Family:Lycaenidae
Family
Description:
Alternate
Common Name: Western Hairstreak.
Range:
This species ranges from southern British Columbia south to southern California,
and east to Idaho and central Wyoming
and Colorado.
Habitat:
It occurs in dry habitats such as chaparral, open woodlands, shrubby
areas, and canyons of lower elevations.
Diet:
Caterpillar:
Caterpillars eat the leaves of a variety of species, including buck brush
(Ceanothus spp.), oaks (Quercus spp.), mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus
spp.), chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), and serviceberry
(Amelanchier alnifolia).
Adult:
Butterflies drink flower nectar, often from milkweed (Asclepias spp.),wild
buckwheat (Eriogonum spp.), and buck brush (Ceanothus spp.).
Ecology:
Eggs are laid in the fall, overwinter, and hatch in the spring.
There is only one generation of caterpillars each year. 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. Each caterpillar undergoes four
stages of growth, called instars.
Adults generally fly
from June to early August. The tails of the hindwings of the butterfly resemble
antennae and can act to fool predators into biting the wrong end of the butterfly,
allowing it to escape.
Reproduction:
Males perch in
the tops of trees most commonly at the tops of hills to wait for receptive females,
and sometimes actively patrol
for them. This behavior is called "hill topping". Eggs are laid
in the hollow portions of the bark of host plants
,
typically in clusters of two to four which are then cemented together by the
female.
Conservation:
![]() |
![]() |
Global Rank: | G4; population levels are secure, but may be of concern in the future. |
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.