Lotis Blue Butterfly Recovery Plan - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

26. Reintroduce LBB into secure habitat.
The habitat should be prepared and secured before reintroduction
of the butter1 fy. Close monitoring is required for any
reintroduction of the butterfly.
3. Conduct ecological studies to develop additional management
recommendations and to determine criteria for reclassification
and del is ting.
The work of Arnold (1978, 1980, 1981a) should be supplemented by
additional field and laboratory studies. Continued surveys of
northern Sonoma County plus southern and central Mendocino County
coastal regions are necessary to establish whether or not other
historic or undiscovered colonies of lotis blue butterfly still
exist.
Additional autecol ogical research is needed to discover larval and
adult foodplants, describe the lotis blue butterfly's 1 ife history
identify predators, paras i toids, and other mortal i ty factors, as we1 1
as possible larval symbionts. Utilizing this information, we can
begin to define recovery for this species.
Synecological studies of bog, wet meadow, and forest habitats will
be needed in conjunction with autecoloqical studies on larval and
adul t foodpl ants, once they are identified, to better understand
the vegetation dynamics at these sites. Findings from these
studies should be incorporated into management programs.