Lycaena arota

Lycaena arota, the tailed copper, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America from New Mexico north and west to Oregon, south to southern California and Baja California, Mexico.[2]

Tailed copper
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Lycaenidae
Genus:
Lycaena
Species:
L. arota
Binomial name
Lycaena arota
(Boisduval, 1852)[1]
Synonyms
  • Polyommatus arota Boisduval, 1852
  • Tharsalea arota

The average wingspan ranges from 30–35 mm. Each hindwing has a tail. The upper surface of the males is copper brown with an iridescent purple sheen. The upperside of the females has an orange and dark brown pattern. The underside of both males and females is gray, with black spots on the forewings and a band of white crescents on the hindwings. Adults are on wing from May to August in one generation per year. They feed on flower nectar.

The larvae feed on the leaves of Ribes species. The species overwinters as an egg.

Subspecies
  • Lycaena arota arota
  • Lycaena arota virginiensis Edwards, 1870 (California, Nevada, Colorado)
  • Lycaena arota nubila (Comstock, 1926) (California) – clouded copper
  • Lycaena arota schellbachi (Tilden, 1955) (Arizona) – Schellbach's copper

References
  1. Lycaena at Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera
  2. Tailed Copper, Butterflies and Moths of North America


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.