Pinecrest Gardens: All About Atala Butterflies

From Pinecrest Gardens:

January 29, 2021

In January, a large part of my time is devoted to butterflies. Though we don't typically think of winter as a time for butterflies, in South Florida it's a different story. Our mild climates allow some of our native butterflies to be active most of the year. While there are some rather incredible native butterflies that call SFL home and are active throughout the winter, today it's all about the Atala!

Eumaeus atala, or the Atala hairstreak as it's commonly known, is a butterfly native to south Florida and the Caribbean. It's a small butterfly compared to other species, but one of the largest in it's own genus. If you have never seen the Atala hairstreak, you're in for a treat. A beauty, the Atala is a mostly black butterfly with iridescent blue markings and a bright orange abdomen. The orange color extends a little to the butterflies wings, a stark contrast against the rest of their darkly colored body. The Atala butterfly has a complicated history in South Florida. In fact, it was once thought to be extinct! While I won't get deep into details, I will give you a brief background. The Atala butterfly's host plant is coontie (Zamia integrifolia), which is a native cycad that we see often used in roadside plantings and landscaping. Back in the day, I mean, pioneer times and prior, South Florida's native ecosystem was abundant in coontie. The Native Americans and early European settlers once used the coontie roots as a source of flour. The plants were harvested, the roots dried and then ground into an edible flour. As the plants were harvested, the Adult butterflies had lessened options for laying eggs.

Later, when South Florida was experiencing a population boom, large swaths of South Florida was decimated by logging of Slash Pine for timber. Slash pine, particularly, a subspecies called Dade County Pine was highly sought after and existed in Pinerockland ecosystems. Among the Pine Rockland ecosystem, exists the coontie, which in turn succumbed to the destruction.

By the mid 1920s, most of the coontie was gone, and with it, the Atala butterfly. Once considered to be the most abundant butterfly of South Florida, was then thought to be extinct. Luckily for us, the butterfly was hiding in rather small numbers deep within the remaining pine rockland habitat. Coontie photo provided by the IFAS website

To learn more about the cootnie plant, check it out here

Today, the butterfly has made a come back in a big way, especially with the popularity of using coontie as a low maintenance landscape plant. When the plants came back, the butterflies came back; a perfect example of the interconnectedness of nature!

Luckily for us, at Pinecrest Gardens we have a few types of zamia that the caterpillars feed on, so this time of year I always go for a caterpillar hunt. The caterpillars are colored a deep orange with flashy yellow dots on their backs. The bright colors are a warning sign to any predator, reminding lizards and birds alike that if ingested, they are toxic. This same orange color is then reflected in the abdomen of the adult butterfly, continuing the reminder of 'do not eat me'. The caterpillars are gregarious by nature. They participate in gang feeding and will often pupate in groups. There are not many other butterflies that practice this behavior, so I appreciate that about them. Sharing meals, developing as a group- its communal, and cute! Scientifically though, the purpose of their group behavior is to be strong and bright warning sign to predators. Also, Atala caterpillars skeletonize the tough leaves they eat, so grouping together makes more efficient work of it. And so, their cuteness has a purpose.

As adult butterflies, Atalas will dip and fly through dappled sunlight, sometimes even hanging out in the shade. They have erratic and quick flight patterns when flying, but are rather sedentary overall for a butterfly. When it comes to food, atalas prefer purple or white colored flowers, and those with short corolla suit them better, as their proboscis (aka drinking straw) is on the short side. As a non-exhaustive list, Atalas are often found nectaring on palm flowers, sweet almond, Florida fiddlewood, and porterweeds as favorites. To learn even more about Atalas, you should visit this extension article, Here. Have you ever seen an Atala butterfly or caterpillar? Once you recognize the host plant, you'll notice them more and more. Next time you visit Pinecrest Gardens, look near the zamias in the lower garden, to spot one. This time of year they are active, and it really is a treat to see them!

Happy Digging!

This press release was produced by the Pinecrest Gardens. The views expressed are the author's own.