> Xerces blue — Glaucopsyche xerces
# Description
A small lycaenid with iridescent blue males and brownish females. Lived in patchy dune microhabitats - wikipedia 
Status: Extinct (IUCN 1996) Region & Habitat: Coastal dune scrub of San Francisco Peninsula; sandy, low, herb-rich dunes. Era of loss: Last verified records early 1940s.
# Cinematic beat Dusk over fog-tinted dunes; males skimming lupine blooms, a robber fly darts — cut to a wide shot of bulldozers grading dunes; the blue flicker vanishes.
# Habitat & Ecology - Host plants (inferred from records and close relatives): lupines and deerweed in dune scrub. - Dune mosaics: bare sand + low shrubs; seasonal nectar pulses. - Likely ant-association (lycaenid pattern): larvae tended by ants.
# Diet - Adults: nectar from dune forbs. - Larvae: legumes (e.g., lupine/deerweed) in coastal scrub.
# Predators - Dune spiders, robber flies, small birds.
# Behaviour - Low, skipping flight in warm, calm conditions; males patrol host patches. - Seasonally synchronized emergence.
# Threats & Drivers - Rapid urban build-out on coastal dunes; invasive plants destabilizing native dune flora.
# Related - Extinct Insects – Recent Losses
