| American holly azure | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Lycaenidae |
| Genus: | Celastrina |
| Species: | C. idella |
| Binomial name | |
| Celastrina idella Wright and Pavulaan, 1999 | |
Celastrina idella, the American holly azure, is a species of butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found on the east coast of the United States.
The wing uppersides are uniform light blue or purplish-blue, shinier in females than in males, with white fringes. The wing undersides are light gray or white with dull black spots.
Caterpillars vary in color between green and white. Some caterpillars develop white chevron markings on their back. [1]
American holly azures differ from the co-occurring azure species by their smaller size, wing color, flight period, pupal diapause, and larval hosts. Northern azures have earlier flight and pupal periods, larger size, and more vivid adult and larval color. Spring azures can be distinguished by close examination of the wing scale structure in a captured individual but are otherwise nearly indistinguishable by sight. The spring flight of summer azure associates with black cherry and does not diapause before the summer flight, which begins after the end of the American holly azure flight. Appalachian azures and cherry gall azures have ranges west of the range of American holly azures. [1]
The species' occurrence range extends along the Atlantic coastal plain of the United States, from New Jersey to Georgia. [1]
The species has one flight per year in the spring, between the flight periods of the northern azure and the spring brood of summer azure but overlapping with spring azure and cherry gall azure. The flight is from late April to late May in the northern part of the range.
Adults emerge to begin their single flight in spring, after remaining in the pupal stage during summer, autumn, winter, and early spring.
Adults lay white eggs on buds of holly flowers. [1]
Caterpillars hatch and bore into the buds in late spring. Worker ants of a few species, including the ferruginous carpenter ant ( Camponotus chromaiodes ), an unnamed carpenter ant Camponotus nearcticus , and an unnamed citronella ant Lasius alienus , accompany the caterpillars. [1]
Caterpillars become light brown pupae in late spring or early summer. The pupae undergo diapause until spring. [1]
Adults take nectar from highbush blueberry ( Vaccinium corymbosum ), sand myrtle ( Kalmia buxifolia ), chokeberries ( Aronia arbutifolia and Aronia melanocarpa ), black cherry ( Prunus serotina ), red maple ( Acer rubrum ), and rock cress ( Arabis sp.). [1]
Caterpillars eat the flowering parts of male plants of four species of holly: American holly ( Ilex opaca ), inkberry ( Ilex glabra ), smooth winterberry ( Ilex laevigata ), and Yaupon holly ( Ilex vomitoria ). Two possible alternative host plants are tall gallberry holly ( Ilex coriacea ) and Virginia willow ( Itea virginica ). [1]
American holly azures co-occur with closely related azure species but differ in their host plant adaptation. Sympatric speciation may have occurred due to host plant specialization, i.e., different populations of azures may have genetically diverged once some populations adapted to a single host not used by other populations. [1]
Lepidoptera is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 families and 46 superfamilies, 10 percent of the total described species of living organisms. It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world. The Lepidoptera show many variations of the basic body structure that have evolved to gain advantages in lifestyle and distribution. Recent estimates suggest the order may have more species than earlier thought, and is among the four most species-rich orders, along with the Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Coleoptera.
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The brown-tail moth is a moth of the family Erebidae. It is native to Europe, neighboring countries in Asia, and the north coast of Africa. Descriptions of outbreaks, i.e., large population increases of several years duration, have been reported as far back as the 1500s. The life cycle of the moth is atypical, in that it spends approximately nine months as larvae (caterpillars), leaving about one month each for pupae, imagos and eggs. Larvae (caterpillars) are covered in hairs. Two red spots on the back, toward the tail, distinguish these species from other similarly hairy moth larvae. The winged adults have white wings and a hairy white body with a tuft of brown hair at the tip of the abdomen. Females lay one egg cluster, usually on the underside of a leaf of a host plant. The species is polyphagous, meaning that it feeds on many different species of trees, including pear, apple, maple and oak.
The holly blue is a butterfly that belongs to the lycaenids or blues family and is native to the Palearctic.
The Mission blue is a blue or lycaenid butterfly subspecies native to the San Francisco Bay Area of the United States. The butterfly has been declared as endangered by the US federal government. It is a subspecies of Boisduval's blue.
Celastrina is a genus of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae found in the Palearctic, Nearctic, Indomalayan and Australasian realms.
Acronicta rumicis, the knot grass moth, is a species of moth which is part of the genus Acronicta and family Noctuidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is found in the Palearctic region. A. rumicis lives and feeds on plants located in wide-open areas. At its larval stage, as a caterpillar, it causes such a large impact as a crop pest that it has received much attention and research. A. rumicis feeds on maize, strawberries and other herbaceous plants.
Jalmenus evagoras, the imperial hairstreak, imperial blue, or common imperial blue, is a small, metallic blue butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is commonly found in eastern coastal regions of Australia. This species is notable for its unique mutualism with ants of the genus Iridomyrmex. The ants provide protection for juveniles and cues for adult mating behavior. They are compensated with food secreted from J. evagoras larvae. The ants greatly enhance the survival and reproductive success of the butterflies. J. evagoras lives and feeds on Acacia plants, so butterfly populations are localized to areas with preferred species of both host plants and ants.
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.
Celastrina ladon, the spring azure or echo blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America from Alaska and Canada south of the tundra, through most of the United States except the Texas coast, southern plain and peninsula Florida; south in the mountains to Colombia. Also on Molokai island, Hawaii.
Celastrina neglecta, the summer azure, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America. Layberry, Hall, and Lafontaine, in The Butterflies of Canada, describe the species:
The upper surface is pale blue with an extensive dusting of white scales, especially on the hindwing. In some females the blue is almost entirely replaced by white with a small amount of blue near the wing bases. Females have a broad blackish-grey band on the outer third and costa of the forewing. The underside is chalky white to pale grey with tiny dark grey spots and a zigzagged submarginal line on the hindwing.
Celastrina serotina, the cherry gall azure, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found across North America as far north as the treeline. Its flight time is between mid-May and mid-June in eastern Ontario after the spring azure and before the summer azure. The larva has been reported to feed on galls of eriophyid mites and apparently also on the mites themselves, making them one of the rare species of carnivorous Lepidoptera. It is commonly found around woodland roads of upland mixed deciduous hardwood forests which are surrounded by wetlands.
Celastrina lucia, the lucia azure, northern azure, eastern spring azure or northern spring azure, is a species of butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found eastern North America, ranging from the Maritimes south through the Appalachian Mountains to West Virginia.
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