Family:Lycaenidae
Family
Description:
Range:
This species ranges from central Alaska south and east across Canada to Nova
Scotia, south through the northeastern U.S. to Virginia; through the Great Lakes
states; and in the western U.S. along the northern Pacific coast, in parts of
Idaho, Montana, and south to New Mexico in patches.
Habitat:
It typically occurs in open dry areas such as rocky slopes
and dunes; however, it is also occasionally found near forest bogs. Generally
it is at sea level except in the Rocky Mountains where it is typically found
above 8000 feet elevation.
Diet:
Caterpillar:
Caterpillars feed on bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) and trailing
arbutus (Epigaea repens).
Adult:
Butterflies drink flower nectar.
Ecology:
There is one generation of caterpillars each summer; their coloring provides
good camouflage when they are on the flowers of host plants. Pupae overwinter in a physiological state called
diapause. Adults
generally fly from
April through May, occasionally into July.
Reproduction:
Males perch on
host plants
to wait for receptive females. Females lay eggs singly at the bases of leaf
buds or flowers of host plants.
Conservation:
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Global Rank: | G5; populations are widespread, abundant, and secure. |
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.