Extinct Xerces Blue Skies Project's Journal

This project collects all observations of the extinct Xerces Blue's closest relative the Silvery Blue. We also collate information in Xerces' and Silvery Blue's known host plants. Right now these include Deerweed, Vetches, and Lupines, but the latter two genera are too broad, so bear with us as we add specific host species for Silvery Blues to the taxon list.

Xerces declined due to the construction of the Western half of San Francisco's 'Outerlands', which removed Xerces and its host plant Deerweed's dune habitats. This trend accelerated after the 1906 Earthquake.

Our team is using the Academy's collection of Xerces specimens to reconstruct its genome and identify candidate replacements. To date, our team has extracted DNA from and sequenced genomes of 80-to-100-year-old museum specimens of the extinct Xerces Blue* and its close relative, the Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus).

Our work is in collaboration with the Presidio Trust and Revive and Restore.

For more information see the following:

• Revive & Restore: Wild Genomes Projects
• Alta Online article by John Markoff
• Bay Nature Article by Liam O'Brien
• article on the Xerces story by Xerces society found Robert Michael Pyle

*Xerces has been variously considered as a separate species (Glaucopsyche xerces) or as a subspecies of the Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus xerces), a question that this project will help resolve.

In an attempt to focus the host plant list to verified records today I added verified species from Calscape. We can keep track of future additions here (and potentially remove genera that don't have specific records in California as we find more specific species information).