GULFPORT - A $15,000 shipment of pineapples had to be destroyed after a butterfly larvae was found with the fruit.

U.S. Customs said the butterfly, known as the Saunders 1850, was in a container of pineapples coming from Costa Rica. There are no other known Saunders 1850 butterflies in the nation.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture inspected the larvae and said the butterfly's normal habitat is in the Amazonian tropical rainforest.

“These butterflies, while they may be attractive to the eye, have no place in the Gulf Coast or our United States, and their introduction could lead to unpredictable results in our ecosystem,” Anthony Acrey, Area Port Director of Mobile, said.