The once abundant Atala butterflies were thought to be extinct from the 1930s until 1959 when a few specimens were discovered. In 1979, a colony of Atala butterflies was found on an island off the Miami Coast. It is likely that the current population are descendants of the island butterflies.
Like the Monarch butterfly’s relationship with the milkweed plant, the Atala has a symbiotic relationship with the coontie palm; the female only lays eggs on the coontie palm. Thus, when early Florida settlers overharvested the coontie palm for its starchy root, the Atala butterfly population declined and disappeared along with its host plant.
With its recent popularity as a native ornamental plant in Florida landscapes, the abundant urban coontie palms support healthy populations of the once nearly extinct Atala butterfly.
