When one thinks of the capture and translocation of threatened species in South Africa it is usually the "charismatic megafauna" that come to mind.
But, as entomologist David Edge will tell you, ensuring the little creatures don't become extinct is just as important in conserving the country's biodiversity as saving the elephants and rhino.
Edge, who has been studying the Brenton Blue butterfly at Brenton-on-Sea in Knysna, has caught three of the caterpillars, packed them in a cooler box and released them into a new home in Nature's Valley Fynbos Reserve.
He hopes the caterpillars, which became extinct in Nature's Valley in the early 1980s, will successfully recolonise this reserve.
The only place in the world where this butterfly occurs now is in the coastal fynbos at Brenton-on-Sea at Knysna.
Julie Carlisle, project manager of Nature's Valley Trust, said on Thursday the one hectare reserve at Nature's Valley is surrounded by houses and has largely been unmanaged.
"Some of the residents recall that there was a fire in the 1970s, but since then it has not been burnt and just left to do its own thing. We wanted to get the Brenton Blues back to Nature's Valley, but we had to do a burn first so the fynbos would regenerate.
"But there are a lot of wooden houses around it and getting permission from all the home owners took us about a year.
"Then we did a burn over two years ago.
"The fynbos has regenerated fantastically and so Dave decided we would try to re-introduce the butterfly larvae now," Carlisle said.
She said the caterpillars were in their final stage before they pupated. "They feed on a plant called indigofera erecta. Dave collected some of the eggs from Brenton-on-Sea and hand-reared the larvae.
"We found some nice juicy plants and released them on to them, and now we're really hoping they'll pupate and in November they will fly," Carlisle said.
If the pilot project is successful, they will release another 30 caterpillars into the Nature's Valley reserve.
The Brenton Blue shot into the limelight in the late 1990s when the authorities turned down a development proposal at Brenton which would have made the butterfly extinct.