Glaucopsyche lygdamus
Encyclopedia
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
native to North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. Upperside is a light blue in males, a dull grayish blue in females. Underside is gray with single row of round spots of differing sizes depending upon region.
G. lygdamus is found over much of the western United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and most of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
extending north excepting most of Nunavut
Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...
and the high Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
islands. Wingspan is from 18 to 28 mm.
Similar Species
- Eastern Tailed-blueEastern tailed-blue butterflyThe Eastern Tailed-blue or Eastern Tailed Blue , also known as Everes comyntas, is a common butterfly of eastern North America. Males are generally blue on the upperside of their wings while females are lighter blue to brown or charcoal in coloring, but there are also varieties of purple and pink...
(Cupido comyntas) has small 'tails' on hindwings - Western Tailed-blue (Cupido amyntulaCupido amyntulaThe Western Tailed-blue is a member of the Lycaenidae family and is seen across western North America as far norther as Alaska. The upperside of the male butterfly is blue while the female has a darker brown band on the outer side of the wing. The underside is riddle with black spots, with a...
) has small 'tails' on hindwings - Arrowhead Blue (Cupido piasus)
- Greenish Blue (Plebejus saepiolus) has two rows of small black spots on the underside of both wings
- Boisduval's Blue (Icaricia icarioides) has two rows of small black spots on the underside of both wings
Subspecies
- G. l. afra (W. H. Edwards, 1884) – Afra (Silvery) Blue
- G. l. arizonensis McDunnough, 1934 – Arizona Silver Blue
- G. l. australis (F. Grinnell, 1917) – Southern (Silvery) Blue
- G. l. columbia (Skinner, 1917) – Columbia Blue or Skinner's (Silvery) Blue
- G. l. couperi Grote, 1873 – Couper's Silvery Blue
- G. l. deserticola (Austin & J. Emmel, 1998) – Mojave Silvery Blue
- G. l. incognitus Tilden, 1974 – Behr's Silvery Blue
- G. l. jacki Stallings & Turner, 1947 – Jack's (Silvery) Blue
- G. l. lygdamus (Edward DoubledayEdward DoubledayEdward Doubleday was an English entomologist mainly interested in Lepidoptera.He is best known for Doubleday, E. & Westwood, J.O. The Genera of Diurnal Lepidoptera: comprising their generic characters, a notice of their habits and transformations, and a catalogue of the species of each genus....
, 1841) – (Georgian) Silvery Blue - G. l. mildredae F. Chermock, 1944 – Mildred's Silvery Blue
- G. l. minipunctum (Austin, 1998) – Mini-spotted Silvery Blue
- G. l. nittanyensis (F. Chermock, 1944) – Appalachian Silvery Blue
- G. l. oro ScudderSamuel Hubbard ScudderSamuel Hubbard Scudder was an American entomologist and palaeontologist.Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Scudder may be most widely known for his essay on the importance of first-hand, careful observation in the natural sciences...
, 1876 – Oro (Silvery) Blue - G. l. palosverdesensis (E. Perkins & J. Emmel, 1977) – Palos Verdes BluePalos Verdes BlueThe Palos Verdes Blue is a small endangered butterfly native to the Palos Verdes Peninsula in southwest Los Angeles County, California. As its distribution has been proven to be limited to one single site it has one of the best claims to being the world's rarest butterfly.- Overview :Palos Verdes...
- G. l. pseudoxerces (Emmel & Emmel, 1998) – False Xerces (Silvery) Blue
- G. l. sabulosa (Emmel, Emmel & Mattoon, 1998) – Sand Dune Silvery Blue
- †G. l. xerces (BoisduvalJean Baptiste BoisduvalJean Baptiste Alphonse Dechauffour de Boisduval was a French lepidopterist and physician. He developed the Boisduval scale and identified many new species of butterflies. One of the most celebrated lepidopterists of France, he was the co-founder of the Société Entomologique de France...
, 1852) – Xerces BlueXerces BlueThe Xerces Blue is an extinct species of butterfly in the gossamer-winged butterfly family, Lycaenidae. The species lived in coastal sand dunes of the Sunset District of San Francisco. The Xerces Blue is believed to be the first American butterfly species to become extinct as a result of loss of...
(extinct)
External links
- Silvery Blue, Talk about Wildlife
- Silvery Blue, Massachusetts Butterfly Club