Biologists deposited caterpillars of the rare frosted elfin butterfly on its host plant, the sundial lupine, in north Florida. Photo from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission ...

Sarasota is a city of arrivals. Spring breakers flood our quartz-sand beaches, the return of the rainy season promises summer blooms, and snowbirds reappear with the first breezy whisper of mild winter.

Biologists waded through knee-high vegetation in Florida until they reached a spot where purple flowers grew in cone-like formations — then the team got out the glow-in-the dark caterpillars. The ...