Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies, with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterfly species.
Butterfly gardening is a way to create, improve, and maintain habitat for lepidopterans including butterflies, skippers, and moths. Butterflies have four distinct life stages—egg, larva, chrysalis, and adult. In order to support and sustain butterfly populations, an ideal butterfly garden contains habitat for each life stage. Butterfly larvae, except the carnivorous harvester , consume plant matter and can be generalists or specialists. While butterflies like the painted lady are known to consume over 200 plants as caterpillars, other species like the monarch , and the regal fritillary only consume plants in one genus, milkweed and violets, respectively. Milkweed grows in every state in the United States except Alaska.
Miletinae is a subfamily of the family Lycaenidae of butterflies, commonly called harvesters and woolly legs, and virtually unique among butterflies in having predatory larvae. Miletinae are entirely aphytophagous. The ecology of the Miletinae is little understood, but adults and larvae live in association with ants, and most known species feed on Hemiptera, though some, like Liphyra, feed on the ants themselves. The butterflies, ants, and hemipterans, in some cases, seem to have complex symbiotic relationships benefiting all.
Papilio canadensis, the Canadian tiger swallowtail, is a species of butterfly in the family Papilionidae. It was once classified as a subspecies of Papilio glaucus.
Celastrina ladon, the spring azure, 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.
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.
Satyrium edwardsii, the Edwards' hairstreak, is a species of butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in the eastern parts of the United States and in the southern parts of the Canadian provinces from Saskatchewan to Quebec.
Eriophyes is a genus of acari that forms galls, specially on trees of the family Rosaceae. Some are called blister mites. The blue butterfly Celastrina serotina has been reported to feed on these galls and also on the mites, making it one of the uncommon carnivorous Lepidoptera.
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.
Satyrium favonius, the oak hairstreak or southern hairstreak, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in the United States from southern New England and the Atlantic Coast south to peninsular Florida and west to central Illinois, south-eastern Colorado and the Gulf Coast.
Megalopalpus zymna, the common harvester, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern Sudan, Uganda, north-western Tanzania and Zambia. The habitat is forest and dense agricultural land.
Erora laeta, the early hairstreak, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in eastern Canada and the United States. The habitat consists of deciduous and mixed woods.
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.
Celastrina humulus, the hops azure, is a species of blue in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America. The main host plant is wild hops. They can change their body temperature by behaviors like basking or sitting in shade.
Celastrina echo, known generally as the echo azure or western azure, is a species of blue in the butterfly family Lycaenidae.
Satyrium caryaevorus, the hickory hairstreak, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in eastern North America, from southern Ontario west to Minnesota and Iowa, south in the Appalachian Mountains to eastern Tennessee.
