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Lists of endangered and extinct insects are always dominated by butterflies. Butterflies are charismatic daytime flyers that visit flowers on sunny afternoons. So, it is easy to understand why people notice when they disappear. No doubt, countless species of insects are on the brink of extinction, or already gone, which we will never know about because they are small, dull, or hide from view. Small gossamer-wing butterflies (blues, coppers, and hairstreaks) in particular are often limited to open habitats in small geographic ranges with very specific food plant requirements. A new housing development or golf course can easily erase a population. For instance, the Xerces blue butterfly, first described in 1852, once graced the sand dunes of San Francisco’s shoreline, but went extinct in the 1940s as a result of urban development. Extinction is forever, and awareness is our best weapon to combat it. See “The Intriguing World of Insects” on display, pre-security, in the International Terminal. http://bit.ly/IntriguingInsects . . . This image was posted on August 21, 2019.

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Lists of endangered and extinct insects are always dominated by butterflies. This image was posted on August 21, 2019. #intriguinginsects #worldofinsects #insects #entomology #sbutterflies #butterfly #museum #endangeredspecies #extinct
Lists of endangered and extinct insects are always dominated by butterflies. This image was posted on August 21, 2019. #intriguinginsects #worldofinsects #insects #entomology #sbutterflies #butterfly #museum #endangeredspecies #extinct
Insects with bright, high-contrast colors are often noxious and do not taste good, or may bite, or sting. This image was posted on June 06, 2019. #intriguinginsects #worldofinsects #insects #entomology #berkeley #ucberkeley #mimicry #müllerian #batesianmimicry
Insects with bright, high-contrast colors are often noxious and do not taste good, or may bite, or sting. This image was posted on June 06, 2019. #intriguinginsects #worldofinsects #insects #entomology #berkeley #ucberkeley #mimicry #müllerian #batesianmimicry
When you say “bug” to entomologists, they assume you mean a true bug—an insect in the order Hemiptera. This image was posted on July 22, 2019. #intriguinginsects #worldofinsects #insects #entomology #berkeley #ucberkeley #truebugs #bugs #hemiptera #museum
“The Intriguing World of Insects” features over one thousand specimens from the Essig Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Berkeley. This image was posted on September 03, 2019. #intriguinginsects #worldofinsects #insects #entomology #essigmuseum #essig