Summarized from an article by Jennifer Anne Perez, South Bay Weekly

The discovery of the Palos Verdes blue butterflies at a defunct naval housing complex along the Harbor City/San Pedro border may interfere with development of property and cost developers hundreds of thousands of dollars to protect the insect's home.

According to Dawn Lawson, a senior natural resources specialist with the Navy, the Palos Verdes blue butterflies which are on the verge of extinction, are found exclusively in Southern California and are idignineous to the Palos Verdes area.

Navy spokeswoman, Jeanne Light, says that the blue-winged, black-spotted butterflies were discovered on the naval site in March 1994, when UCLA researcher Rudi Mattoni was setting traps for other insects.

As a result of this surprising discovery, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has required the Navy to conduct a thorough study of the property and determine exactly where the butterflies and its habitat are located before any further development can begin. The results of this study will be reviewed by the Fish and Wildlife Service and used to determine where developers can build.

However, if the study shows that development will help in diminishing the butterflies, which are on the verge of extinction, then the Wildlife Service would recommend that the Navy not realease the land for city use. Resource specialist, Lawson, expects a final draft of the study to be finished by the end of February.