Rare butterfly is behind ‘mass destruction’ on rare Miami plants. Can both be protected?

Ashley Miznazi | (TNS) Miami Herald

MIAMI — A small butterfly once thought extinct has staged such a comeback in South Florida that it is now considered a bit of a garden pest — and a persistent problem for a renowned research facility where its caterpillars feast on a curated collection of tropical plants, some of them rarer than the insect munching them.

The butterfly is the atala, a South Florida native whose life cycle and survival has long been tied to a unique “host plant” called the coontie.