By Allison Kite
Federal wildlife officials on Aug. 5 proposed listing a large butterfly once prevalent in the grasslands of Kansas and Missouri as threatened.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it would seek protections for the regal fritillary, large non-migratory butterfly with orange and black markings.
It exists in an eastern and western subspecies.
The service is recommending the western regal fritillary — found in 14 states in the Midwest and Great Plains — be listed as a threatened species.
