Glaucopsyche lygdamus

Glaucopsyche lygdamus, the silvery blue, is a small butterfly native to North America. Its upperside is a light blue in males and a dull grayish blue in females. The underside is gray with a single row of round spots of differing sizes depending upon the region.

Silvery blue
G. l. couperi, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Scientific classification
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G. lygamus
Binomial name
Glaucopsyche lygdamus
Subspecies

See text

G. l. couperii on tufted vetch (Vicia cracca), Calgary, Alberta, Canada
G. l. palosverdesensis

G. lygdamus is found over much of the western United States and most of Canada extending north excepting most of Nunavut and the high Arctic islands. Wingspan is from 18 to 28 mm.[1][2]

Similar species

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically:[3]

  • G. l. afra (W. H. Edwards, 1884) Afra (silvery) blue
  • G. l. arizonensis McDunnough, 1934 Arizona silvery blue
  • G. l. australis (F. Grinnell, 1917) southern (silvery) blue
  • G. l. columbia (Skinner, 1917) Columbia blue or Skinner's (silvery) blue
  • G. l. couperi Grote, 1873 Couper's silvery blue
  • G. l. deserticola (Austin & J. Emmel, 1998) Mojave silvery blue
  • G. l. incognitus Tilden, 1974 Behr's silvery blue
  • G. l. jacki Stallings & Turner, 1947 Jack's (silvery) blue
  • G. l. lygdamus (Edward Doubleday, 1841) (Georgian) silvery blue
  • G. l. mildredae F. Chermock, 1944 Mildred's silvery blue
  • G. l. minipunctum (Austin, 1998) mini-spotted silvery blue
  • G. l. nittanyensis (F. Chermock, 1944) Appalachian silvery blue
  • G. l. oro Scudder, 1876 oro (silvery) blue
  • G. l. palosverdesensis (E. Perkins & J. Emmel, 1977) Palos Verdes blue
  • G. l. pseudoxerces (Emmel & Emmel, 1998) false Xerces (silvery) blue
  • G. l. sabulosa (Emmel, Emmel & Mattoon, 1998) sand dune silvery blue
  • G. l. xerces (Boisduval, 1852) Xerces blue (extinct)
  1. Jim P. Brock and K. Kaufman. (2003). Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America. New York, NY:Houghton Mifflin, p.124.
  2. Silvery Blue, Butterflies of Canada
  3. Glaucopsyche at Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera
  • Darby, Gene (1958). What is a Butterfly. Chicago: Benefic Press. p. 36.

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