| Frosted elfin | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Lycaenidae |
| Genus: | Callophrys |
| Species: | C. irus |
| Binomial name | |
| Callophrys irus | |
Callophrys irus, the frosted elfin, is a species of Lycaenidae that is native to North America.
The wingspan ranges from 22–24 mm (0.87–0.94 in). [3] Hindwings have one short tail. The top side of the wing is brown, males have long oval dark spots on the leading edge of their forewings. The hindwings have submarginal black spots above the tail and below the postmedian line is faint.
There is one flight period from March to April in the south and in the north it is on wing from mid-May to early June. [3] Females will lay eggs singly on flower buds. The caterpillars eat both the flower and the developing seedpods. Chrysalids hibernate in loosely formed cocoons beneath litter below the plant. Larval foods include the pea family (Fabaceae), indigo ( Baptisia tinctoria ), lupine ( Lupinus perennis ), and rattlebox ( Crotalaria sagittalis ). [3]
They range from local colonies in Maine west across New York, southern Ontario, [3] and Michigan into Wisconsin, then south along the Atlantic Coast west into Louisiana and eastern Texas. Within this range they tend to stick to open woods and scrublands. [4]
In 2011, zoologists with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation found populations of the butterfly in the city of Suffolk, Virginia, and a volunteer also found a population at Antioch Pines Natural Area Preserve. The butterfly had not been reported in Virginia since 1994. The species is listed as threatened in Connecticut, [5] New York, [6] and Michigan. [7]
The western pine elfin is a North American butterfly that ranges from British Columbia east to Maine and south to southern California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Males are brown and females are orange-brown, with both having bold patterned hind wings. The top of the wings have dark bars with a lighter chevron shaped margin. The body is 19–32 mm in length and has no tail.
Lupinus perennis is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae.
The genus Callophrys consists of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae. It is apparently not monophyletic, but which of the taxa currently considered junior synonyms of Callophrys are valid genera remains to be determined.
Callophrys henrici, the Henry's elfin or woodland elfin, is a North American butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. In Canada it is found from southern Manitoba to southern Nova Scotia. It has two main groups of populations in the United States; the first is found along the Atlantic Coast and uses various hollies (Ilex) as host plants; and the second is found mainly in the north and the Appalachians where they use redbud as a host plant. Henry's elfin is increasing in New England because of an introduced buckthorn it now uses as a host plant. It is listed as a species of special concern in the US state of Connecticut.
The Appalachian azure is a butterfly in the gossamer wings family Lycaenidae. The male is light blue on the upperwing with a narrow, dark line running along the edge of the forewing. The underwing is chalky white and is dotted with small, pale dark spots. The very back of the hindwing has a row of dark spots running along the edge and contained by a faint zigzagging band. Females are similar to the males but have broad dark wing borders instead of the male's narrow ones. The adult butterfly has a 1.1–1.4-inch (2.8–3.6 cm) wingspan. It is the largest azure in the area.
Erynnis brizo, the sleepy duskywing or banded oak duskywing, is a species of Hesperiidae butterfly that occurs throughout North America and is commonly confused with E. juvenalis and E. lucilius. The species is listed as threatened in Connecticut and Maine.
Chlosyne harrisii, or Harris's checkerspot, is a member of the family Nymphalidae that is found in North America. They range from the Canadian Atlantic provinces, excluding Newfoundland and Labrador, to Manitoba and North Dakota south to West Virginia and Ohio. They can often be seen in bogs, meadows and almost anywhere else its host plant occurs. The typical elevations for this species range from 0 to 1,742 feet (531 m). It is listed as a species of special concern and believed extirpated in the US state of Connecticut.
Erynnis horatius, commonly known as Horace's duskywing, is a species of butterfly in the family Hesperiidae. It is found in the United States from Massachusetts to Florida, and west to eastern South Dakota, the Gulf Coast, south-eastern Utah, Colorado, north-eastern Arizona, and New Mexico. It is listed as a species of special concern in the US state of Connecticut.
Callophrys sheridanii, the Sheridan's hairstreak and Sheridan's green hairstreak, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America along the south coast of British Columbia and parts of Nevada, Arizona, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, and New Mexico. In 2009, this species was adopted as the U.S. state butterfly for Wyoming.
Callophrys niphon, the eastern pine elfin, is a species of Lycaenidae that is native to North America.
Callophrys augustinus, the brown elfin, is a species of butterfly of the family Lycaenidae, found from Alaska to northern Mexico. One of its subspecies, C. augustinus iroides, is known as the western elfin.
Euphyes dukesi, or Dukes' skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It lives in the eastern United States and in a small portion of southern Ontario, Canada, in three distinct populations. Preferred habitats are shaded wetlands, with various species of sedge plants it uses as host plants for its larvae.
Aristolochia serpentaria is a species of perennial flowering plant in the Aristolochiaceae (birthwort) family. The species is commonly known as Virginia snakeroot and is native to eastern North America, from Connecticut to southern Michigan and south to Texas and Florida.
Callophrys polios, the hoary elfin, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It has a very local distribution in the United States from Maine south to New Jersey and in the Appalachian Mountains to Virginia, west across the Great Lakes states and the southern prairie provinces and north to Alaska. Along the Pacific Coast it is found to northern California and in the Rocky Mountains south to northern New Mexico. It is listed as a species of special concern and believed extirpated in the US state of Connecticut.
Callophrys mossii, commonly known as Moss's elfin, stonecrop elfin or Schryver's elfin, is a species of butterfly native to North America in the family Lycaenidae. It is found from British Columbia south to southern California and east to Wyoming and Colorado in isolated populations. The habitat consists of rocky outcrops, woody canyons and cliffs.
Callophrys fotis is a species of butterfly in the family Lycaenidae, the gossamer-winged butterflies. It is known by several common names, including early elfin, desert elfin, Fotis hairstreak, Strecker's elfin, and Arizona gray elfin. It is native to the southwestern United States, where it occurs in southeastern California, Nevada, Utah, western Colorado, northern Arizona, and northwestern New Mexico.
Callophrys hesseli, or Hessel's hairstreak, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It ranges from southern Maine south along the Atlantic coastal plain to northern Florida on the Gulf Coast. The species was first described by George W. Rawson and J. Benjamin Ziegler in 1950, in honor of the lepidopterist Sidney Adolphus Hessel. It is listed as endangered in Connecticut by state authorities.
