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| Tailed Copper - Lycaena arota (Boisduval, 1852 ) |
Click on image above to enlarge
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Family: Gossamer-wing Butterflies (Lycaenidae)
Subfamily: Coppers (Lycaeninae )
Identification: Each hindwing of both sexes has a tail. Upper surface of male copper-brown with iridescent purple sheen; female with orange and dark brown pattern. Underside of both sexes gray; forewing with black spots, hindwing with black scrawls and a band of submarginal white crescents.
Wing span: 1 1/8 - 1 3/8 inches (3 - 3.5 cm)
Life history: Males perch in open areas, often near watercourses or ravines, in the morning to watch for females. Eggs are laid singly on host plant or on debris under it, and hibernate until the following spring. Caterpillars eat leaves.
Habitat: Open mixed woodland, sagebrush, chaparral.
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Caterpillar hosts: Leaves of gooseberry and currant (Ribes species) in the Grossulariaceae family.
Adult food: Flower nectar.
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Range: New Mexico north and west to Oregon, south to southern California and Baja California.
20001
 
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