Butterfly endemic to southern Japanese islands feared extinct

The Environment Ministry said Thursday that a species of small butterfly endemic to southern Japanese islands is feared to have gone extinct as all artificially-bred butterflies and worms of the type have died.In the butterfly's natural habitats, located in the Ogasawara Islands some 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo, no individuals from the species have been confirmed since 2018, the ministry said.Unless the blue butterfly measuring just over 1 centimeter in length is found in the wild, it will be the first butterfly species native to Japan to go extinct.The ministry believes that a decline …READ FULL ARTICLE