America's ONLY Extinct Butterfly Species

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Today I finally address a gap in my knowledge: butterflies. To do this, I'm using a field guide to try to find what has gone extinct.
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Sources:
images.peabody...
www.nytimes.co...
xerces.org/abo...
www.extinction...
www.floridamus...
royalsocietypu...
thekidshouldse...
baynature.org/...
www.butterflie...
butterflywebsi...
www.iucn.org/p...
www.sci.sdsu.ed...
www.cnn.com/20...
sfbaywildlife....
www.earth.com/...
www.cell.com/i...
www.latimes.co...
www.latimes.co...
www.jstor.org/...
books.google.c...
archive.org/st...
ftp.funet.fi/pu...
xerces.org/red...
www.butterflie...
/ saving-socals-rarest-b...
databasin.org/...
www.urbanwildl...
www.urbanwildl...
www.researchga...
reviverestore....
wildlife.org/u...
www.cell.com/i...
www.inaturalis...
www.butterflie...
greennature.co...
www.floridamus...
archive.org/de...
montereybay.no...
www.itis.gov/s...
www.floridamus...
gillianlui.com...
www.butterflie...
butterfliesofam...
butterfliesofa...
butterfliesofam...
www.joelsartor...

[@thefolder3086]

If you want to talk about butterflies, moths, and other insects, you could try completing your island series. Birds aren’t the only thing with wings after all. Many butterflies species also becomes specialized for islands. Some moths in islands near Antarctica even becomes flightless. Those could be cool to see!

[@scientistImara]

I never hear a moth that cannot fly.

[@thefolder3086]

@@scientistImara Pringleophaga marioni

[@AtlasPro1]

Very interesting! I'll keep this example in mind!

[@somatia350]

adaptive radiation!!!

[@Marder_IFV]

​@@thefolder3086 hehe "Pringle"

[@MarcusJuniorDS]

I love the part where you list 30 butterfly names in a row. Comedy gold.

[@TheHistoryofBiology]

Butterflies always fascinated the biologists with their lifecycle, anatomy and diversity. Lot's of biological principles were proven with butterflies (like the peppered moths becoming darker because a mutation that darkened them was much better adapted to hiding in a smog covered environment In Industrial England).

[@fubberpish3614]

Butterflies are also great examples of hybrid speciation, where fertile hybrids between two species, only mating with other hybrids, eventually become a distinct species. This occurs very rarely in the wild, but has been recorded in several butterfly species, specifically species from South America if I recall correctly. Aside from butterflies, hybrid speciation is known to have occurred in Galapagos finches, various Rift Lake cichlids (a diverse group of freshwater fish from Africa), and even a dolphin species. Hybrid speciation is such an interesting phenomenon, while it is rare it can create entirely new species within a couple of generations, much much faster than the typical methods of speciation

[@ApeX-pj4mq]

@@fubberpish3614 It’s incredibly interesting to me but sadly I only really know of one example, that being the Galapagos big bird lineage. Essentially a finch from one of the Galápagos Islands travelled to an island where it isn’t usually found and then mated with 2 birds of different species. The hybrids created from this eventually mated together (inbreeding but since they are birds the effects aren’t as bad) and formed an entirely new species with a completely unique bird call, beak shape and colour

[@fubberpish3614]

@@ApeX-pj4mq yeah, the big bird lineage was how I found out that hybrid speciation was a thing! It's super cool stuff

[@katies9114]

its also probably the first animal's life cycle we learn about in school

[@big_almcc]

I'm so excited by this video! I'm currently volunteering to help a local re-introduction of the UK's smallest butterfly, the SMALL BLUE! We are using it's larval plant (Kidney vetch) to establish a mosaic of smaller habitats across the south of Cumbria (English county) in the hopes that the population will spread into those areas. We are also doing population counts at a site which is actually just hill sized piles of ironworks waste called the 'slagbanks''. If the population is big enough the team plan to catch a moderate % and release them at site with stable and viable kidney vetch habitat. Watching this video made me so glad that I've held and helped our small blue so hopefully it doesn't become a lost species. You've fanned the flame in me again here, looking forward to butterfly season again, going to cherish the moments with them a little more now I remember how close to the edge they are.

[@andrewgraves4026]

I’m so glad for you. Thank you for your work and your comment.

[@debluflame1899]

heh cumbria really cool stuff tho

[@bradleywoods3742]

Thats great to hear. I've been to Arnside and Silverdale which borders southern Cumbria looking for other rare species of butterfly and I have always thought that small blue could do very well there with just a few small adjustments and a reintroduction. Small blue have spread into my home county Warwickshire in recent years from the Cotswolds (already has a couple sizable populations), its one butterfly which seems to be doing well.

[@tomasdionnet812]

This is why i really love your channel and why you are one the best youtubers out there. You did not just compiled few data and make a five minute video about That species that sadly went extinct. No, you share your passion, your desire to know more, to not feel full until you get to a satisfactory result. I do not care if it takes you two weeks or two years to make a video of a topic. Each of your videos is a masterpiece

[@ulrichspencer]

Exactly. His videos aren't mere compilations of facts; they're a captivating journey of understanding about some cool little facet of the natural world.

[@Gutterrat69]

Highly agreed! Best channel on here

[@Percy_Fawcett]

I'm a biology student and he is my favourite youtuber by far

[@tomasdionnet812]

@@Percy_Fawcett and im a railway engineer. It doesnt matter your carreer you can apreciate the dedication anyways and thats awesome

[@bananawitchcraft]

Well said, I think this really sums up what makes this channel stand out

[@renerpho]

James Wilson Tilden (1904-1988) must have been a very interesting person. You can see how much he cared about his field, and I think he was the leading authority on butterflies of the western United States at one point. There is a nice obituary, with a lot of photos of Tilden from throughout his life, on the website of the Biodiversity Heritage Library. It is freely available online, and worth a read. It turns out that the 1956 article you found was published very early in Tilden's career, and the autograph was from a time when his health was already failing. I think you can see that his hand was a bit shaky at that time. There is no Wikipedia article about the man, and even the entry on Wikispecies only has a single sentence. Maybe someone is willing to change that. The obituary offers enough information to write an article about him.

[@astrapentaxia2730]

Let's hope that someone who knew him stumbles upon this video and can expound upon this request. That's part of the joy of having the internet - niche heroes can continue to exist :)

[@kelvinjuneregalario6834]

9

[@kelvinjuneregalario6834]

9

[@horse14t]

I know nothing about J. W. Tilden and not much about butterflies but every word quoted in this video just oozes passion and fascination of the subject that's truly gripping. Truly an amazing person.

[@renerpho]

@@horse14t Thanks -- I agree. I don't know much about butterflies either, and I would guess there aren't more than a dozen people in the world who would call themselves anything like experts on American butterfly species. That combination of a deep love for a field that's extremely niche is something I admire a lot. It is hard to be passionate about something that nobody else cares about.

[@Echowhiskeyone]

Have you ever looked into trees of North America? And how the forest ecology has changed over time. Loss of the American Chestnut to Chestnut Blight, American Elm and Dutch Elm Disease and the recent loss of ash trees and the Emerald Ash Borer. It could be interesting.

[@AtlasPro1]

Later this year 🤫

[@Echowhiskeyone]

@@AtlasPro1 The three I mentioned interest me for various reasons. American Chestnut was one of the most important, if not most important, commercial trees in the US. And it still exists, barely, and is trying to be brought back. I remember seeing chestnut saplings back in the '70s and '80s, but blight took them within 10 years. And I have some chestnut lumber from old barns, gorgeous wood. I have a BS in Forest Science from Penn State, and at Main Campus, the Mall is line with American Elm. There is only a few large American Elm collections left in the US. Glorious and beautiful form and crowns. Also work is being done to bring them back. Ash trees is a recent tragedy. The Emerald Ash Borer came to the US and devastated most of the North American elm(Ulmus) species. Another commercial tree, not as much as in the past though. Great for baseball bats and tool handles. These three are just examples, but these three losses greatly changed the forests of North America, from what they were when Europeans arrived in the Americas. I will be patiently waiting.

[@Laeiryn]

The American elm isn't fully extinct; there's a recovering wild population in at least one place in Illinois.

[@Echowhiskeyone]

@@Laeiryn The American Elm is far from extinct, but it is vastly diminished from Dutch Elm Disease. Many survive, notably the National Mall in Washington DC, the Mall at University Park, Central Park, NYC and a few other large colonies. As well as many notable trees in various cities. And a colony exists in Australia.

[@duhduhvesta]

No distracting him from moths!!!

[@heichan8657]

I did not expect the video to go in this direction, but i must say: it's true that taxonomy change a lot. It's not just for butterflies, or just invertebrates, but every single organism. We now have a lot better understanding of genetics, and we have much better tools to identify the relationship between each organism and species. Humans always want to categorize things in nature, but nature is hard to categorize and not every species will fit in nicely. That's why a lot of species have "species group", or just clades. Taxonomy is always changing and that's what makes it confusing but interesting. It's the nature of science, that with new conclusive evidence, what we once thought know may change drastically.

[@OwlRTA]

the research done into this is why I watch this channel. not many people would go to the trouble of reading old papers, and then trying to make sense of outdated names to the extent you did. great video (even if I do have a phobia of butterflies lmao)

[@Peanutbetter27]

The Xerces Society is a very prominent invertebrate conservation named after the Xerces Blue butterfly. Also, you might be interested to learn about the Karner Blue butterfly, an endangered butterfly in New York State and a few other Eastern states at similar latitudes. Like the Xerces, the Karner needs a very specific inland pine barrens habitat to live due to it only being able to feed on the Lupine flowers that grows there. As you might guess, these sand plain habitats are also globally rare due things like human development, especially in places like the Capital District in NY. The connections between the glacial history of the US also makes this butterfly really interesting biogeographically. Luckily, there's an incredibly conserved area of sand plains full of lupines, pitch pines, and Karner Blues almost in the middle of the Capital District, nearly in the middle of the city of Albany. It's called the Albany Pine Bush and it's a really amazing place to visit if you're interested in conservation or biogeography.

[@AtlasPro1]

I read about the Karner blue in my research! It makes me want to plant some blue lupine and see if I can get any. I might also have to check out this park in Albany!

[@legoboy468]

Wow I never thought I’d see the Pine Bush mentioned in a KZbin comment, I’ve lived near there my whole life and never realized how important it was. I might go visit it again this spring now : )

[@Coelacanth_yes]

​@@AtlasPro1have you ever heard of the taylor's checkerspot from the Pacific northwest

[@catherinedufresne3543]

@@Coelacanth_yes Ooh, yes, Euphydryas editha taylori is another rabbithole in and of itself!

[@cheekylix]

@@AtlasPro1 I think it's either a coincidental mistake, or maybe it's true that "Minois sthenele" is synonymous to Cercyonis sthenele. Maybe something is up? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cercyonis_sthenele

[@shasan2393]

JW tilden sharing with us the wisdom of ancients. I hope he can be happy knowing that his efforts are still appreciated. I found his words incredibly poignant, perfectly encapsulating the spirit of curiosity for the natural world

[@shasan2393]

Tilden died only 1 year after he signed the autograph in the book in the video. Rest in peace His obituary: images.peabody.yale.edu/lepsoc/jls/1990s/1990/1990-44(1)45-Smith.pdf

[@RedKoopaPlumber]

After doing a bit of research, it looks like the sub-species discussed "C. s. behrii" isn't extinct and is still alive! :D It's common name is Behr's Great Basin Wood Nymph (Cercyonis sthenele ssp. behrii) but it seems to be only found in to coastal LA to San Diego nowadays with it being extinct northward. There's some photos of them alive if you google them. They seem to be locally extinct in San Francisco area. However C. s. sthenele is definitely extinct though. :( Also I really loved this video! def was one of my favorites on your channel! : )

[@the-human-being]

Nice to know, Thx !

[@auangauthentication958]

Rip

[@Frogboyaidan]

Cool

[@StefanMilo]

This was great! I'm hoping to plant more butterfly friendly plants in my garden this year. This was a great reminder to get digging!

[@AtlasPro1]

I'll be starting my milkweed soon!

[@abhigail]

wow stefan you're here too!? i didn't expect the archeology guy will be interested in biogeography, btw i am a subscriber from both of your channels, kudos to you guys for being passionate of making educational content

[@RestingJudge]

Used to live in a pretty rural area, it was kind of amazing once you noticed the staggered pattern of how some butterfly species appear, and the corresponding waves of bird species throughout the day and seasons.

[@Minty1337]

"i cant have my cover being blown, i must be seen as a knowledgeable person" lmao

[@Balin_James]

This was one of the coolest research journeys I think I’ve seen you take in a while. I also love how these island habitats keep coming up!

[@runawaybuns]

The absolute dedication and passion to find answers to question that you posed to yourself. I have to say that I completely understand that drive and wholly respect it. This was an incredible video and there is not a single doubt in my mind that you earned the right to have butterflies behind you.

[@I.____.....__...__]

7:52 Two years ago Joe Hansen of PBS' Be Smart did a collaboration with Emily Graslie and Trace Dominguez for their In Our Nature series, and in the 4th video, _"These Butt-Tickling Ants Are Endangered Butterfly Bodyguards"_ Trace went to San Bruno Mountain off San Francisco to see the Mission Blue which is endangered because it only lives on a couple of plant species. Basically, the same story as the Xerces Blue. (It took me far too long to find this based on remembering just that I'd seen a video a few years ago where someone went to a California hill to look at some plants that some butterflies depend on, YT's search is terrible.) I thought that video also mentioned helping them by providing rooftop gardens to give them an easier time traveling by having oases to stop at instead of trying to fly long distances at a time, but that was probably a different video about bees. 27:35 There are four main reasons people keep changing things: (1) to standardize and streamline stuff, (2) new information changing understanding, (3) to consolidate disparate information like when people from different areas come up with the same stuff and make their own terms, (4) political-correctness, (and also (5) uneducated people changing things just because.) Intentional changes like standardization and new information SHOULD keep a record of the old terminology, like how Wikipedia pages keep a history of changes. Hopefully the Internet will allow people from all over the world to collaborate and no longer have to toil in isolation, thus reducing overlap. As for political-correctness, that's just going to get worse. 😒

[@waspjournals41]

Easily one of my favorite videos of yours. I'm a big fan of insects and their taxonomy, although as you might guess I'm more into wasps. But in every group of insects there are species we know next to nothing about. Some of them are only known from one or very few specimens. Back in 2016, I myself had the chance to rediscover a solitary wasp that's pretty rare and hasn't been collected in a long time (only 4 or so specimens known to science). Thing is, i didn't even know it the time, i just assumed it was a random bug, took a picture of it and went about my day. Only days later, after i posted the image on an entomology website, I was told what it was. So to anyone who's from the Bay area: next time you go out in the wilderness, consider taking a picture of the butterflies you come across... you never know.

[@nickfleiwer5272]

I’ve been trained by this channel to get happy whenever island biogeography plays a roll in a topic 😂😍

[@miaokuancha2447]

I think you and J W Tilden may be kindred spirits. Thank you for this journey down the rabbit hole and the glimpse of a compassionate soul. I think the butterflies thank you, too.

[@davidflynn7741]

This has encouraged me to read up on Irish butterflies, just ordered a book and can’t wait to observe some with summer just around the corner🤞

[@AtlasPro1]

You'll definitely see some blues!

[@masondowd9591]

I’ve never been so invested in a video about butterflies in my life. A wonderful video that shines some light on an incredibly obscure topic!

[@ryanharris1052]

Excellent, simply excellent. The passion not only to learn about a topic but to investigate so deeply is beyond impressive. I really enjoyed going down the rabbit hole and learning about butterflies . This channel never fails to impress me.

[@darkbrightnorth]

Holy crap this is the best research I’ve ever seen on a KZbin in history. You are literally rediscovering basically lost info to the general public and even to the experts

[@darkbrightnorth]

You literally tracked down a species which I didn’t care about before hand and will probably not remember for too long, very impressive work.

[@samueldegrey7718]

Entomologist here. The lack of information on an extinct species (or just a species in general) is par per course for most insect taxa, and was in fact more well documented here than alot of other species (Extinct or otherwise)! Going back to some ancient publication is also standard alot of the time. Entomology will really give you an appreciation of the limitations in scope of research, and how you really can't learn everything out there from a quick google search! Also California has INSANE insect biodiversity, it's not limited to butterflies- there are so many species, genera, and entire families that are only found in California. Alot of these taxa are highly distinct "living fossils" as well (including my profile image, the Relict silverfish or Tricholepidion gertschi) that are important for understand evolutionary history of many lineages. A well-known botanical equivalent of this are the redwoods. VERY few people are aware of this, even entomologists within California itself. Even though CA is a biodiversity hotspot, that diversity is mostly reflected in plants and arthropods rather than vertebrates, so that's part of why I think it's underrated. I'm from CA and its too bad it's an unliveable hellhole because it's such an interesting place entomologically and biogeographically.

[@canned-strawberries]

That's so cool :) I'm a biology major and stuff like this really tempts me to become a zoologist of some kind sometimes 😅

[@davidgensemer502]

Honestly your contributions to keeping the memory of extinct species is deserving of some kind of award! You're helping preserve so much knowledge for future generations, and it's incredible to be a part of. Please keep it up with this amazing work!!

[@LogsCarvingClub]

This reminds me of the headache of niche fact checking that CGP Grey goes through - love to see this kind of content! Great video

[@AlexxAmadeo]

I had the same thought as well, but Caelan has a more... what's the word... innocent vibe to him? Which makes his videos even more interesting to watch. Or maybe I simply know too much about CGP Grey after listening to Cortex for years.

[@spoinkable2217]

"I've fallen right into your trap, Tilden." So good.

[@danielkennedy1096]

Awesome video! Have you considered making similar videos on rare and threatened plants? The Siskiyou Mountains in California and Oregon have some crazy endemic species due to the serpentinite soils. The west coast is very diverse in plant life, the California Floristic Province provides an area for plants of different biogeographic regions to converge and speciate. I’d love to see more videos on plant biogeography! Keep doing what you do :)

[@lynnkelly2750]

Your video reminded me of the Karner Blue Butterfly that is endangered. The Karner Blue also relies on on only one plant species , the lupine, and is limited to scattered limited habitats, either pine barrens or oak savannas, between Wisconsin to New Hampshire, New York and New Jersey. Very much enjoy your channel. Glad to know a fellow Ulster County resident is finding success with You-tube.

[@dreadpirate1452]

One of the best videos I have seen in months. Thanks for all your work.

[@amon_san]

if you hadn't pointed it out i never would have noticed that you hadn't made a video about butterflies

[@treyhollingshead9102]

Wherever your passion goes, my mind will follow. Love all of the research you do for the planet we live on together. Love the vids. You’re awesome!!

[@koo08]

Never thought that searching for extinct butterflies can be so exciting!

[@birdbasket]

This is a really fascinating video! I've never really thought about butterflies much before. When you introduced the mystery of the other 2 extinct species, I started pausing the video to try to find the answer on the internet myself, and through some googling, ending up coming to the same conclusion that you did at the end of the video!

[@Itsgay2read]

Yay! So happy to see more vids from you!

[@peperando8733]

I don't know how, but I actually got emotional at the end. I've recently started to study about Oniscideans (terrestrial isopods, which are really interesting btw), and so many species have been described by multiple people and placed inside different genera, with different names at the same time. Still even now Oniscidea biology is poorly known, and thousands of species still need to be described by science. I don't know, it kind of touched me that you'd go to such a length to just figure out what happened with those three species, and I guess it kind of gives me hope that a lot more people will do the same. I'm currently working with a biologist specialized in Oniscidea from my country, helping with the description of a new species (an maybe a couple more). People really don't understand how important a simple observation by a common person can be if they go and research a little bit about it... So thank you truly for the video man, great work as always!

[@jordanrivera467]

This video made me want to look more into my local El Segundo blue butterfly, another butterfly in the blue subfamily that are endangered. They’re endemic to dune systems around LAX and there’s a substantial conservation effort. I thought it was interesting to see another blue butterfly so close to such a busy global hub like LAX and how much the town of El Segundo has been recently incorporating it into its identity. They were also originally thought to be a subspecies but have now been called its own distinct species

[@FraterABYA]

Correction," only KNOWN extinct butterfly". Insects are very diverse and we don't even pretend to know everything.

[@susanfarley1332]

I caught all kinds of butterflies when i was a child. I remember having a jar full of butterflies when i was 5. I remember catching little blue ones among all the others. This was in Orange CA. I caught anything that moved. Snails, frogs, toads, lizards, ladybugs (these were overwintering deep inside sawgrass). In mexico i spent my school recess catching various butterflies. In the desert in mexico i figured out toads liked to hide under stones and tarantulas did too. The tarantulas also liked to catch and paralyze the toads. I also discovered a many legged , pincher armed bug with a long tail that i did not know was a scorpion until i was older than 7. I couldnt believe what i saw and i wanted it to come back out of the hole it went into. Poked the hole with a stick but it did not come back out. At 8 i caught a huge moth ( polythemus ?) And had it in my bedroom before i decided to let it go. Back in the US while in the woods of Florida i saw a huge loud woodpecker in a tree over my head. I wasnt familiar with many birds of the US and i looked up woodpeckers in a bird book, but the only woodpecker with a whiteish beak i could find was the ivory-billed woodpecker. I was 10 at the time. That was 60 years ago. Since i have caught a lot of frogs and toads and lizards and even a lovebird since then. Tortoises, a big praying mantis, a grown quail, and a baby blackbird, and a pair of red headed woodpeckers. I raised the blackbird and the woodpeckers until they were grown and turned them loose. Everything else i turned loose after a day. I still miss the blackbird. He was smart and a character. I still get excited when i see butterflies but i dont catch them any more. Oh yeah, if i see any luna moths that have worn themselves out flying around the lights of a gas station i carefully catch them and turn them loose in a darker area so they don't get squashed by a car. I really like them. They fly like they are drunk.

[@bethoniewaring]

I write about history/mysteries for a pop-history/mysteries channel and i empathise with your search for the missing butterflies so much. It's so nice to see someone go through the same process I do when I see a hole in the information. You could just have ignored that paper as being a weird thing that was written decades ago, but what if someone else knew about that paper and complained that you weren't doing your research? And even if it is a weird thing, why does this weird thing exist? Curiosity leads me down so many rabbit holes and i'm glad you got an answer to your questions at least

[@lastfairdaygonenight]

i watched your video eyes wide open and i can say i literally cried when you concluded. thank you for putting so much effort and sharing your progress. nobody deserves that butterflies board more than you

[@wilhelmtan5301]

I just think though insects are underappreciated group of animals that need protection. when people think of conserving animals, usually insects are ignored especially since they look gross, but they are very important keeping the world in balance from pollination to decomposition.

[@BozackZodiack]

Man, I enjoyed this video so much. Your curiosity really shines through your presentation, and I adore how you are able to describe and lead us all through your thought processes. You definitely earned to keep up the butterfly back-drops! Keep up the amazing work!!

[@Kurooganeko]

Thank you for everything, Caelan! You are the best! The sherlock Holmes-like investigation was very interesting, amusing, entertaining and educative ♥♥♥

[@NationalParkDiaries]

Fantastic story. On the edge of my seat the whole time and loved the blend of natural history, taxonomy, and investigative journalism lol. Your butterflies are well deserved!

[@wezul]

Putting the Pro in Atlas Pro.. expertly done sir!

[@misfits9294]

Your dilemma with your butterfly pictures is simultaneously hilarious, sorta nonsensical, but highly relatable, and I love it. Beautiful intro and story before an amazing video as always!

[@GeographyWorld]

Loved this video. Now I feel really inspired to research if Ireland has any extinct butterflies.

[@XSpImmaLion]

I think the biggest problem of saying this single butterfly species is the only one to have gone extinct in the US, or similar affirmatives like those, is the assumption that you know all the species that are out there, that there is a complete catalog of it, or that we know all there is to know on the subject. xD Like explained closer to the end of the video - not only taxonomy is constantly changing, whoever is looking at subjects like this have to understand there are limitations to past studies and cataloguing efforts regarding time, space/geography, the size of the area were active searches happened, the period of the year, how many people looked into it, the degree of expertise of those people, plus a bunch of other stuff. Most likely explanation on why we know so little about extinct species is basically because we weren't looking when a bunch of them went extinct. We never got to know them, name them, study their DNA, etc etc - they went extinct before getting recognized as a unique species. And you bet, such is the case for so many animals and plants out there... it's probably the vast absurd majority of it all. The stuff that existed before we started studying and cataloguing it all it's just a tiny minority that ends up preserved in fossil format or some other way. We still know very little about this world we live in. xD Well, adequately enough, we've also been here for just a sliver of the planet's age anyways....

[@jalenti]

Yess! We love to see another zoology mystery solved! I love watching your videos!

[@Sanas_Shy_Language]

So, from a short bit of research, I gathered that Minois sthenele is another name for Cercyonis sthenele and it was a subspecies of that (C. s. sthenele) that went extinct, so I guess that still makes Xerces blue the only extinct species of butterflies in NA, but not the only butterflies to go extinct. It just so happens that C. s. sthenele was the nominate subspecies, so they were the first recorded ones, but not the originals. It seems that Minois behrii is alive, just in tiny populations, and is known now as C. s. behrii. It seems that at some point Minois was changed to Cercyonis for the species, presumably because they discovered that they weren’t part of the Minois genus. As someone who hates butterflies(but moths, they slay) I never thought I’d be doing research on them, but here I am.

[@HiZaKunG]

Never thought studying about butterfly is this fascinating!

[@AlexxAmadeo]

Your enthusiastic approach to learning new things about the world around us always makes me smile and remember that there are still good people out there. Thank you for being you, from the bottom of my heart :)

[@ragnaroni]

An admirable effort! I've been talking a lot about Nautilus (they're endangered) so to raise awareness. So this is hella cool!

[@dbrokensoul]

This is probably one of your best video by far. It's amazing that we could follow all of your journey in uncovering these 'Lost Species' and being excited together along the way. I was shouting in excitement when I got to the part where you show the Xerces blue picture. This is a perfect mystery solving video that has a solid up and down tension. On top of that, I hope this video increase the interest about these missing species especially for those in the field that may be hadn't get the chance into looking into it. Hopefully, several month from now we could have updated wikipedia pages about the Lost Species that you have re-discover. And I really hope J.W. Tilden's name would be more mentioned in the internet. Thank you for your amazing work!

[@JHaven-lg7lj]

My father’s various Peterson’s field guides made such an impression on me when I was first learning to read that 30 years later when I decided I needed a wildflower field guide the name Roger Tory Perterson floated up from the murk. Definitely my favorite line of field guides.

[@user-gr9fq9gt9w]

24:56 That was an authentic laugh

[@pixelapocrypha]

I agree that it's so important to remember the species that were lost and I'm glad Mr. Tilden agreed and documented these butterflies, and that you stumbled upon his words to share them with us. It's clear he was very passionate about the subject (I bet his friends and family knew him as the crazy butterfly man haha) and I bet he'd be happy to know that 118k more people have now heard more about it.

[@brunoolas]

This is some CGP Grey level of rabbit hole determination

[@alanc497]

Amazing investigation work. I'm amazed at how much some people are dedicated to their narrow subject of study and writing great books like those you showed, it's so nice.

[@leandersearle5094]

Good news: most of the western US is federal land or even national parks, meaning that even without specific efforts at conservation, the ranges of western butterflies are unlikely to be disturbed. Though it is an odd thought that at one point their greatest threat of extinction came directly from nuclear testing.

[@francescajmirolo891]

I still remember watching Monarch butterflies at my Nana's house as a child. Some of her property she kept as long grasses and blueberry bushes, so there was no shortage of milkweed plants for them. I live in Australia atm, now I need to read up on butterfly species in Sydney. Would you ever consider a video about various invasive species? It's something I think about frequently living here, from cats hunting birds and small marsupials, people having to rip up foreign plants in national parks, to the feral camels and brumbies (horses) in the Outback. Love both this channel and the new Astropro ^^

[@CMichaelEH]

I love seeing you dive into this. I've actually dived into scientific name change from a linguistic perspective and I've found it so nerdily rewarding!

[@gtbkts]

Thank you for the awesome content and great video!!!

[@deccclan]

Fantastic video!! Never once thought about butterflies in any sort of detail, but the last 30 minutes has certainly changed that for the future!

[@Moikyuu]

Sometimes, the fear of shame can be one powerful motivator! I'm so glad you were able to solve this mystery 60 years later! I never knew the man, but I'm sure he would be delighted and proud.

[@indigowilson5121]

I subbed to this channel long before you began your extinction series and now love it more than ever. I appreciate seeing your enthusiasm about learning about these species! One of my special interests is extinct species, so seeing someone so publicly passionate is inspiring. Thank you for these videos, as it truly gets me excited about learning new things again and doing what I can to help preserves species how I am able.

[@dannileigh6426]

I've got the same Peterson bird guide. The first spring birdwatching with that opened my eyes to a whole new world I had been living in but unaware of its breath and intricacies. Im looking forward to spring again!

[@jonashummel3330]

I really like your storytelling in this one!

[@1818kitten]

I’m from Northern America where tall grass prairies used to be a common ecological landscape. Because of encroachment and farming a lot of these unique biodiverse ecosystems were lost and some actually became isolated. I know it has impacted the insects and other organisms that lived there (possibly butterflies which would be an interesting focus) and they could use a video to explore how island isolation may have shaped the ecology. Think about a tall grass prairie video as conservation efforts are pushing forward but there’s been so much lost.

[@erichcapin3350]

Others may give you leads on where to look, some may give data on what to look for & then others will tell you that your not looking hard enough.....I wanna tell you...thank you...for your time & effort in all the the things you discover and like to share with us....good on ya mate...your doing your part ...keep on being curious.

[@HuckleberryHim]

If you're interested in butterflies or Lepidoptera generally, you should know we have quite a few species in the Northeastern US. I'm a novice but I've seen over a dozen different species of butterfly alone, and they're all gorgeous. Also some very cool moths out there! If you care about it, it's cool to know almost every single butterfly species you'll see (and most Lepidopterans in general) is native. The only non-native butterfly here I know of is the small cabbage white, which is very common in developed areas but doesn't really venture into deeper wilderness. Also not to be annoying but I think the framed animal is a Madagascan sunset moth or a related moth, not a butterfly, but it is gorgeous. This is a captivating and beautifully made video, such a deep dive into a fascinating and obscure topic, I love this kind of thing.

[@sohopedeco]

This video feels like a murder mistery, full of charades given by a bygone master.

[@1818kitten]

Not me seeing the butterfly piece in your videos and thinking to myself two things every time: 1, wow that’s a really pretty artwork, and 2, wow he must really know a lot about butterflies, he’s a real entomologist! Haha great video

[@dhawthorne1634]

If you want another butterfly extinction rabbit hole, look into the butterflies of the Amazon, particularly look into a 2015 article on the extinct species that was rediscovered in Brazil. Since you have these books and figured out the name change thing, you should really submit Wikipedia pages for the missing butterflies and forwarding links to the pages with their updated names citing those books as your sources. This will save some future amateur a lot of time, begin able to pick up where you left off and perhaps make even more progress.

[@tsunamimae1965]

I love how you get "bird tier list", "wild tawnt owls" and John Oliver on your playlist SECONDS after you said "Birds, I tell about them a lot". You did your studies. But do chair exist? was topic of wild discussion during my studies on psychiatric class (some would be more interested in Alien Visit video tho). Lost civilizations are great, too.

[@inissabri7428]

Another great video about extinct species. Do keep it up !

[@dysthymicdream]

Huge fan of your channel and also of bugs, so I loved this video! I appreciate you sharing your sources and taking us on the research journey with you when dealing with a topic that's new to you. :)

[@wyvern723]

I live in the PNW, and I haven't seen most of these butterflies. We see a lot of Western Tiger Swallowtaild, skippers and (in the Cascades) white pine butterflies. It's really cool to hear about how diverse they are here.

[@zilverhofstee9580]

That was some high level research, love that you went deep and till you had your answers! ❤️

[@daddythomas1389]

You're just A-MA-ZING!!!! I just love your simplicity, your passion, your humanity, your quest for knowledge, while showing us your research, which is done in such a throughout and logical and concise way. This video, the way you conquer and expose your research in filling in the gaps just made me so so happy!! Science, mix with a Sherlock Holmes inquiring about a long lost mystery is just eyes ears and brain candy!!! Keep you the amazing work my friend!!! Always looking forward to your next great video!! Thanks a million!!

[@scorpion3128]

This video earned a new sub here. Fantastic research and detective work. And just overall excellent crafted content from the script to the infographics. Bravo! I imagine Tilden would be proud and incredibly appreciative of your work here.

[@Noremac_the_Negligible]

This video was very enjoyable, I’d love to see you make more videos that go down a rabbit hole researching a super specific topic

[@dannileigh6426]

Such a neat video and narrative on discovery, loss, and rediscovery.

[@dominicmendez6761]

This takes “you ain’t bout that life” to a whole new level. Great channel.

[@martijn9568]

I think we can be thankful that Linnaeus already invented a worldwide accepted naming system very early on, as otherwise parts of the world throughout time would have used different naming systems, complicating matters further. Especially if something is written in a very foreign language, which is something historians are probably all too familiar with 😅

[@gehrmannjd27]

May I say, my life has improved from you and your knowledge of our world. Love you and all those who see this. Golden.

[@quickredf0x143]

With your interest in butterflies becoming apparent, I have a recommendation of a destination should you ever visit Florida (which New Yorkers seem to do a lot anyways). Butterfly World is a tourist attraction in South Florida that also acts as a conservation center for multiple butterfly species as well as plants they feed on. Their conservation goes even further by offering to sell plants to you that butterflies in the area feed on. They also have a couple of aviaries and a museum containing all kinds of bugs. They used to have a dedicated spider section where you could walk through a room with orb weavers in it but, as of my recent visit (first in almost a decade), that attraction appears to be gone. As a local, I can easily recommend it to anyone interested in these sorts of things. However, it is slightly pricey. Also, I'd recommend a video on soon-to-be-extinct/endangered butterfly species like the monarch. Just had another idea pop to mind wherein you could make videos about unique habitats in the Americas or in the world.

[@nkg___5172]

"Baby wake up, a new Atlas Pro video just dropped"

[@angelicanavarro5311]

I really love how it all came together! You’re amazing for sharing what you found. Much much love!

[@Turdfergusen382]

This is one of the best KZbin channels. Love your content.

[@1969kodiakbear]

Butterflies are cool. By the way, I have difficulty communicating because I had a stroke in Broca’s area, the part of the brain that controls speech. 2/8/2021 but I lived again. (My wife helped me compose this.)

[@MortyMortyMorty]

I've been watching your channel since about your 3rd/4th video, and man, I love every single one of your uploads ever since. I can't appreciate enough how good your videos are, all of the topics are super interesting (for me)! Keep up the great work! 😁😁

[@PrincessTS01]

Our CA desert might bloom this spring, our storms this winter have been so great, they should put on a good show with flowers and butterflies. Oh, and did you hear about the snow in some places 600+" deep MTS.

[@chrrmin1979]

I love how you admitted your lack of knowledge about butterflies so that you could avoid acknowledging your lack of knowledge about butterflies

[@2steve2]

wow great video you definitely earned the picture behind you

[@mistingwolf]

This was such an adventure! Thank you for sharing your butterfly research.

[@ekokepe]

That's some good observations and researching! Excellent work for the video!