Family:Lycaenidae
Family
Description:
Range:
This species has a fairly extensive range, from Alaska south to southern California
and the southwestern U.S., east across Canada to Ontario and across the northern
U.S. to northern Wisconsin and Michigans Upper Peninsula. It occurs through
much of Idaho.
Habitat:
It can be found in open areas, including meadows, open woodlands,
forest edges, and chaparral.
Diet:
Caterpillar:
Caterpillars feed on the flowers and fruits of legumes, such as milk vetches (Astragalus
spp.), other vetches (Vicia spp.), and peas (Lathyrus spp.).
Adult:
Butterflies drink flower nectar.
Ecology:
The caterpillar is equipped with a honey gland, also known as a dorsal nectary
organ, which emits a sugary solution agreeable to ants. The ants feed on
the solution and in turn protect the caterpillar from predators. Also for protection,
the caterpillar bears a pair of everscible
tubercles or tentacles on the eighth segment. These tubercles are usually housed
within the body, but when the caterpillar feels threatened by the approach of
a potential predator, they can be pushed out to release a chemical which mimics
an ant alarm pheromone.
This scent causes the ants to become frenzied and aggressive, and the potential
predator takes leave or is eaten by the ants. There is one generation of caterpillars
each growing season through much of the range, but there may be several in the
west and in southern California. Each caterpillar undergoes four stages of growth,
or instars. Caterpillars overwinter in a physiological
state called diapause, often in the seedpods of the
host. The entrance hole to the pod is sealed with silk. Pupation may occur within the pod as well.
Adults in most of its range generally fly from May through June, but adults may
be seen as late as October in the southernmost parts of its range.
Reproduction:
Males both perch and actively patrol
for receptive females. Females lay eggs singly on
host plant flowers, seedpods, and stems.
Conservation:
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Global Rank: | G5; populations are widespread, abundant, and secure. |
Ferris, C. D. and F. M. Brown. (eds.) 1981. Butterflies of the Rocky Mountain States. Univ. of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, USA, 442 pp.
Opler, P. A., H. Pavulaan, and R. E. Stanford. 1995. Butterflies of North America. Jamestown, North Dakota, USA: Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Home Page. http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/bflyusa.htm (Version 05Nov98).
Opler, P. A. and A. B.Wright. 1999. A Field Guide to the Western Butterflies. Second Edition. Peterson Field Guide Series. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, New York, USA, 540 pp.
Pyle, R. M. 1981. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, New York, USA, 924 pp.
Scott, J. A. 1986. The Butterflies of North America. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, USA, 583 pp.
Stanford, R. E. and P. A. Opler. 1993. Atlas of Western U.S.A. Butterflies (Including Adjacent Parts of Canada and Mexico). Published by authors, Denver, Colorado, USA, 275 pp.