A new mural in College Park above Nando’s is helping to raise awareness of an endangered species with Maryland ties.

Designed by Hyattsville artists Cory L. Stowers and Jason Philp, the mural going up above Nando’s along the Route 1 corridor on Baltimore Ave. features a Terrapin turtle, a Black-eyed Susan and a Baltimore Checkerspot butterfly.

The butterfly was named after George Calvert, the English lord whose title is the namesake of the city, because its orange-and-black coloring matches his heraldic shield.

Once common throughout Maryland, it was named the official state insect in 1973, but it is now considered an endangered species in the state, with a rating of S2, or imperiled.

The main reasons are the loss of crucial wetlands, which have been turned into housing developments; the related decline of white turtleheads, a wetland plant that it lays its eggs in; and possibly climate change.

Stowers and Philp were selected by the College Park City-University Partnership to paint the mural.

Both are members of the Double Down Kings, a graffiti crew which formed in Hyattsville in 1994, and frequently collaborates on public art, including a mural at the West Hyattville Metro.