Bringing butterflies back from the brink of extinction

Aug. 14, 2026
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Contact: Kim Ward: 734-224-8377, kward@msu.edu; Emilie Lorditch: 810-844-1460, lorditch@msu.edu

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Why this matters:

• MSU researchers helped pull one of the world’s rarest butterflies back from the brink of extinction.
• At one point during the recovery effort, more Poweshiek skipperlings (Pow-ah-sheik skipper-ling) lived in captivity than existed in the wild.
• Michigan has become one of the world’s last refuges for several endangered butterflies.
• This research connects conservation, habitat restoration, climate change, pesticide use and ecosystem collapse.

EAST LANSING, Mich. – On a summer day in Michigan, a tiny Poweshiek skipperling butterfly — smaller than a quarter — takes flight over a restored prairie.

To most people, it looks like an ordinary butterfly. But to the researchers watching in the wings, this moment represents something extraordinary. Just a few years ago, scientists feared the Poweshiek skipperling was disappearing forever.

Now, researchers at Michigan State University and their conservation partners have helped pull one of the world’s rarest butterflies back from the brink of extinction.

Working alongside many partners including John Ball Zoo, Minnesota Zoo, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the team transformed one of North America’s most vulnerable butterflies into a growing conservation success.

“We were actually able to save that species from extinction,” said David Pavlik, research assistant at MSU’s W.K. Kellogg Biological Station and John Ball Zoo, who has spent years helping lead the recovery effort. “We released 102 butterflies in 2022 and more than 1,300 butterflies in 2025.”

Early in the recovery effort, the goal wasn’t to create new populations — it was simply to keep the butterfly from disappearing from the last few populations left in Michigan.

Some butterflies are being used to establish new populations, while others are strengthening the few populations that remain. Those releases are already helping wild populations begin to thrive.

Researchers aren’t releasing butterflies to prevent extinction anymore — they’re releasing them to expand a recovering population.

At one point during the recovery effort, researchers were caring for more Poweshiek skipperlings in captivity than existed in the wild anywhere on Earth.

Once found throughout the Midwest — from Iowa and the Dakotas to Michigan and southern Canada — the Poweshiek skipperling began disappearing with startling speed in the early 2000’s. By 2022, researchers documented only nine Poweshiek skipperlings in the entire United States.

The success of the program has expanded beyond the Poweshiek skipperling. Researchers in the Haddad lab at MSU and John Ball Zoo are now raising and reintroducing two additional endangered butterflies — the Mitchell’s satyr and the Karner blue — to restore populations across Michigan.

Butterflies signal a healthy ecosystem

“It may not be obvious why one little, tiny butterfly disappearing is important, but it’s a big part of a bigger system that helps support us here,” said Bill Flanagan, conservation manager at John Ball Zoo, who has assisted with the recovery firsthand.

Butterflies are more than colorful insects. Scientists consider them indicators of ecosystem health — and their absence is an early warning sign that something is wrong.

“These butterflies are like canaries in a coal mine,” said Nick Haddad, professor in MSU’s College of Natural Science, the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station and the Ecology, Evolution and Behavior Program. “One-third of Midwestern butterfly species has declined by about 40% in the last 20 years and none of them have increased.”

Researchers point to multiple causes behind butterfly declines, including habitat loss, wetland destruction and changing agricultural practices.

“Less than 1% of the prairie habitat that once existed remains today,” said Pavlik.

The widespread use of neonicotinoid pesticides has also contributed to butterfly declines. These chemicals can drift beyond their intended targets, harming beneficial insects and reducing biodiversity.

“We can’t ignore the ethical moral obligation of people not being the cause of extinction of a species,” Haddad said.

Why Michigan matters

Michigan’s geography may be one reason the species survived at all.

Surrounded by the Great Lakes and home to rare prairie fen wetlands, the state has become one of the last strongholds for some of North America’s most endangered butterflies.

Today, the Poweshiek skipperling survives in only a few locations in southeast Michigan and one population in Manitoba, Canada.

“Michigan is a stronghold for these species,” said Flanagan. “We’re the perfect place to help save them.”

The key to the butterfly’s survival has been the restoration of these habitats by the Nature Conservancy and other land managers. Most of the world’s remaining prairie fens — the butterfly’s natural habitat — are found in southern Michigan.

“Without conservation efforts like this, there wouldn’t be these habitats where these species can thrive,” said Pavlik. “Restoring prairie habitat benefits not only Poweshiek skipperlings, but also many other rare species.”

From caterpillar to conservation success

Poweshiek skipperlings spend nearly their entire lives as caterpillars, emerging as adults for only a brief window of about two weeks each summer.

Miss that narrow opportunity to breed and release them, and an entire year of conservation work can be lost.

Inside specially designed hoop houses, researchers recreate the hot, humid conditions of Michigan’s rare prairie fens, allowing endangered caterpillars to develop before being returned to the wild. Before they are released, each butterfly is briefly anesthetized and marked with a Sharpie so they can be tracked in the future.

“The most exciting thing about this research is starting to see butterflies in the field,” said Flanagan. “In 2022, there were a grand total of nine butterflies found in the U.S. Now we’re seeing hundreds of them in these sites.”

A blueprint for recovery

Building on the success of the Poweshiek skipperling, researchers are expanding their conservation efforts to include two additional endangered butterflies—the Mitchell's satyr and the Karner blue at the Great Lakes Rare Butterfly Program at the John Ball Zoo. In fact, both have been released into their native habitats this summer.

This research is far from finished. Researchers hope to rebuild enough populations to eventually remove the Poweshiek skipperling from the endangered species list.

After years of decline, the Poweshiek skipperling has become something increasingly rare in conservation: a success story.

But researchers say the work is about more than a single butterfly.

The same prairie habitat supports dozens of other declining insects, birds and plants. Researchers say every successful butterfly release is evidence that an endangered ecosystem is recovering.

“What’s good for Poweshiek is also very good for the entire ecosystem,” said Pavlik.

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