Taking flight

Two species of endangered butterflies will be reintroduced to the Florida Keys this week.

Two endangered butterflies will be reintroduced to the Florida Keys this week, improving prospects for species once thought to be one hurricane away from extinction.

Scientists will release hundreds of caterpillars of Schaus’ swallowtail butterfly, a species that suffered a severe decline as its South Florida hardwood forest habitat was destroyed to clear land for farms and cities.

Recent captive breeding and reintroductions by scientists have bolstered its population in the Keys, however, with hundreds found in recent surveys. Continuing this effort to bulk up its population, the caterpillars will be released today at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and Dagny Johnson Key Largo

Hammock Botanical State Park on Key Largo, according to a news release from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The next day about 100 Miami blue butterfly chrysalises will be placed in Long Key State Park, between Islamorada and Marathon. Once ranging through much of the Florida peninsula, the nickel-sized Miami blue also lost habitat to development. Feared extinct after Hurricane Andrew, it was discovered in small numbers in the Keys, and since then there have been efforts to bolster the population through captive breeding.

The releases next week will be the first of several planned over the next few months, said Jaret Daniels, a biologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History and University of Florida.