The Center for Biological Diversity and Endangered Habitats League petitioned the California Fish and Game Commission recently to list the Quino checkerspot butterfly as endangered under the California Endangered Species Act.
Once common throughout much of Southern California, the Quino checkerspot butterfly, or Quino, has experienced extreme declines over the past 50 years. By the 1980s, more than 75% of its historical range — and almost all its coastal bluff habitat — had been destroyed. The species is now only found in a few small and fragmented populations in San Diego and Riverside counties.
“Quino checkerspot butterflies may be adapted to the unpredictable climate of arid Southern California, but unfortunately they’ve been pushed to the limit by habitat loss and fragmentation,” said Sofia Prado-Irwin, Ph.D., a staff scientist at the Center. “Sprawl development has turned this resilient species into one of the rarest butterflies in California. Their future is dismal without greater protections under state law.”
Quino populations naturally go through boom-and-bust cycles, and connectivity among populations is essential for the species’ survival.
“The small butterfly needs large landscapes to survive. This listing would help preserve the ecosystem the butterflies and many animals depend on,” said Dan Silver, executive director of the Endangered Habitats League.
The Quino’s few remaining populations are threatened by continued sprawl development, climate change, nitrogen pollution, invasive species, and border wall construction. The butterflies have been listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act since 1997, but federal protections have failed to prevent population declines.
With threatened and endangered species protections uncertain under the new Trump administration, state protection of the most imperiled wildlife is especially important. Listing Quinos under the California Endangered Species Act would strengthen protections for the butterflies and make them a state conservation priority.
