''Eumaeus atala'', also known as the Atala butterfly or coontie hairstreak, is a small colorful

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group compris ...

in the family

Lycaenidae Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterf ...

. It is found in southeastern

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

(including the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...

) in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, and the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the a ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

, and the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

. Its coloration and habits are unique among butterflies within its range.

History

The species was originally described by the Cuban zoologist

Felipe Poey Felipe Poey (May 26, 1799 – January 28, 1891) was a Cuban zoologist. Biography Poey was born in Havana, the son of French and Spanish parents. He spent several years (1804 to 1807) of his life in Pau then studied law in Madrid. He became a ...

. He named the butterfly for Atala, the Native American heroine of an 1801 French novella ('' Atala, ou Les Amours de deux sauvages dans le desert'' or in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

: "Atala, or the Loves of two Indian savages in the desert") of the same name by Chateaubriand.

Ecology

Throughout its range, the larvae feed on a native cycad, '' Zamia integrifolia'' (commonly called "coontie palm" or "arrowhead"), as well as the introduced '' Zamia pumila'' and other exotic ornamental cycads. In Cuba, the cycad ''

Cycas revoluta ''Cycas revoluta'' (Sotetsu apanese ソテツ sago palm, king sago, sago cycad, Japanese sago palm) is a species of gymnosperm in the family Cycadaceae, native to southern Japan including the Ryukyu Islands. It is one of several species used f ...

'' is also eaten. Adult butterflies take flower nectar and sometimes roost in trees. Adults fly through much of the year. The natural habitat is open brushy areas and tropical

hammocks A hammock (from Spanish , borrowed from Taíno and Arawak ) is a sling made of fabric, rope, or netting, suspended between two or more points, used for swinging, sleeping, or resting. It normally consists of one or more cloth panels, or a wove ...

, often in pine woodlands. Many populations now exist in suburban areas with ornamental cycads. Males keep close to a site with host plants, which often forms small colonies of a few individuals. The females, however, may disperse in search of more hosts.

Description

The Atala butterfly is a great example of

aposematic Aposematism is the advertising by an animal to potential predators that it is not worth attacking or eating. This unprofitability may consist of any defences which make the prey difficult to kill and eat, such as toxicity, venom, foul taste o ...

(warning) coloration throughout its life cycle. The brightly colored larva or

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sy ...

feeds on

cycads Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody ( ligneous) trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male or ...

that contain a toxic secondary plant chemical (

cycasin Cycasin is a carcinogenic and neurotoxic glucoside found in cycads such as ''Cycas revoluta'' and '' Zamia pumila''. Symptoms of poisoning include vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, seizures, and hepatotoxicity. In metabolic conditions, cycasin is hydro ...

) which it retains in its body for life. Birds, lizards, and other animals may attempt to prey on the larvae, pupae, and adults, but find them distasteful and learn to avoid these brightly patterned insects. The butterfly's flight is slow, unlike the swift, erratic flight of many other

Breeding

Like many

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 families and 46 superfamilies, 10 percent of the total described speci ...

, male atalas have

hair-pencil Hair-pencils and coremata are pheromone signaling structures present in lepidopteran males. Males use hair-pencils in courtship behaviors with females. The pheromones they excrete serve as both aphrodisiacs and tranquilizers to females as well as r ...

s (coremata) on their abdomens used in courtship; the male hovers in front of the female, wafting

pheromone A pheromone () is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting like hormones outside the body of the secreting individual, to affect the behavio ...

s exuded from the pencils in her direction. Eggs are laid in clusters of 10-50 on the leaf tips of the host plant. Larvae feed on the leaves. Pupation is usually done on the host plant.

Conservation

The Florida/United States population was at one time believed to have become

extirpated Local extinction, also known as extirpation, refers to a species (or other taxon) of plant or animal that ceases to exist in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinct ...

due to overharvesting of its host plant, the coontie palm. It was not collected in Florida from 1937 until 1959. The Atala butterfly is now extremely common locally in southeast Florida, rebounding to the extent of almost being considered a pest, as it has begun to eat ornamental cycads planted in suburban areas. In Palm Springs, Florida, the

G-Star School of the Arts The School District of Palm Beach County (SDPBC) is the tenth-largest public school district in the United States, and the fifth largest school district in Florida. The district encompasses all of Palm Beach County. For the beginning of the 201 ...

has been contributing to the growth of local population numbers.Widom, Gary
"Butterfly close to extinction has been found at the G-Star School of the Arts"
CBS12 News, Palm Springs, Florida, November 3, 2014,
archive link
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Gallery

Image:Butterfly House 7.JPG, Adult resting on a leaf Image:Eumaeus_atalaPCCP20040417-4028A.jpg, Pupa Image:Eumaeus_atalaPCCP20040417-4033A.jpg, Larva

References

*Jim P. Brock, Kenn Kaufman (2003). ''Butterflies of North America.'' Boston: Houghton Mifflin. . *Jeffrey Glassberg (1999). ''Butterflies through Binoculars: The East A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Eastern North America''. New York: Oxford University Press. . *James A. Scott (1986). ''The Butterflies of North America: A Natural History and Field Guide.'' Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. .

BugGuide.net

External links

on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures website {{Taxonbar, from=Q3060343 Eumaeini Butterflies of the Caribbean Butterflies of North America Butterflies of Cuba Fauna of the Bahamas Taxa named by Felipe Poey Butterflies described in 1832