Concerns that Ulysses butterfly is going extinct in tropical North Queensland

The Australian Butterfly Sanctuary is calling for government support and funding before the unmistakeable electric-blue butterfly disappears from the region completely.

Since the start of the year, numbers of Ulysses butterflies have rapidly decreased in the wild, as well as within private stocks of butterflies.

The butterfly sanctuary, at Kuranda, has experienced a complete loss of the species, with its breeding rate plummeting from 90 per cent in recent years to zero per cent in 2016.

There is currently no Ulysses butterflies on display at the tourist attraction.

Australian Butterfly Sanctuary general manager Mel Nikolich said the sanctuary had already invested significant time and money into the issue, along with other local breeders.

“To date, the sanctuary has contributed significantly through extra laboratory time and staff wages trying to counter and understand this substantial decrease in numbers, as it affects all of us in the region,” she said.

“We have been sharing our findings with other local breeders, but sadly we have yet to determine the cause of the decline.”

Read more in tomorrow’s The Cairns Post