Lycaena helloides

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Purplish copper
COPPER, PURPLISH (lycaena helloides) (8-7-08) fem, blanco creek, co (9424454288).jpg
Female
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Genus: Lycaena
Species:
L. helloides
Binomial name
Lycaena helloides
(Boisduval, 1852) [1]
Synonyms
  • Polyommatus helloidesBoisduval, 1852
  • Epidemia helloides
  • Lycaena xanthoides tr.f. gunderiRudkin, 1933
  • Lycaena sternitzkyiGunder, 1936

Lycaena helloides, the purplish copper, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America from the Great Lakes area to British Columbia, south to Baja California. [2]

Female, underside Lycaena helloides female.jpg
Female, underside


The wingspan is 30–38 mm. Adults are generally on wing from May to July and again from August to October in two generations per year, although up to four generations per year may occur at some locations. In the northern part of the range, there is one generation with adults on wing from July to August. Adults feed on flower nectar.

The larvae feed on the leaves of Polygonum , Rumex , and sometimes Potentilla species. The species overwinters as an egg.

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<i>Hesperopsis libya</i> Species of butterfly

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<i>Lycaena nivalis</i> Species of butterfly

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<i>Lycaena mariposa</i> Species of butterfly

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References