The monarch butterfly is a beautiful and colorful creature, but it takes time to reach this stage of its adult life.

New Butterfly Research Takes Wing In N.H.'s Karner Blue Pine Barrens 04:23 June 17, 2019 Annie Ropeik, New Hampshire Public Radio ...

The Reakirt’s Blue (Echinargus isola) is arguably the most common of the five species of the “Black-eyed Blues” tribe, and it undeniably has the largest permanent range of the five in Texas.

“Looks like an old one,” Diaz said, pointing out the tattered edges lacing the butterfly’s wings. In the life of a Fender’s blue, “old” means just nine or 10 days.

“It’s very much a race against time,” he says. That’s because the approximately 200 blue morpho butterflies inside are in their chrysalis stage and only a couple of days from emerging. In the meantime ...