Dutch Alcon Blue

Extinct circa 1979 CENetherlands

"By 1979, the entire population of the Dutch alcon blue had disappeared. The locally specialised insects, dependent on one specific plant and ant species, could not survive in the rapidly deteriorating ecosystem, with anthropogenic changes to the landscape slowly encroaching on their fragile entanglements."

Rosanne van der Voet, "The Logic of Extinction: The Story of the Dutch Alcon Blue Butterfly," ShARC Blog, May 21, 2021.

Image: Svdmolen, Phengaris Alcon, Digital image, Web.