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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Butterflies (excluding skippers) (Papilionoidea) » Blues, Coppers, Hairstreaks, Harvesters (Lycaenidae) » Coppers (Lycaeninae) » Lycaena » Purplish Copper (Lycaena helloides)

Species Lycaena helloides - Purplish Copper

Classification · Identification · Food · Print References · Works Cited
Skipper to ID - Lycaena helloides Purplish Copper - Lycaena helloides - female copper buttefly - Lycaena helloides Purplish Copper(s) Helen Allison Savanna - Lycaena helloides - male - female Purplish Copper - Lycaena helloides - Lycaena helloides Purplish Copper - Lycaena helloides Gossamer winged butterfly? - Lycaena helloides - male Lycaena helloides? - Lycaena helloides
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Papilionoidea (Butterflies (excluding skippers))
Family Lycaenidae (Blues, Coppers, Hairstreaks, Harvesters)
Subfamily Lycaeninae (Coppers)
Genus Lycaena
Species helloides (Purplish Copper)
Identification
Males' brown above with purplish refraction and dark spots. Pyle (1) observes that males have the structural ability "to go from penny-brown to neon-purple in the flash of a sunbeam...". Darker margins in both sexes.
Females orange above, with dark spots generally stronger than in males.
Dorsal and ventral HW margin with orange lunules in both sexes.
Food
Larval foodplants: mainly knotweeds (Polygonaceae family), some Potentilla spp. (Rosaceae).
Print References
Pyle(2002)(1)
Guppy & Shepard(2001)(2)
Scott(1986) (3)
Works Cited
1.The Butterflies of Cascadia: A Field Guide to All the Species of Washington, Oregon, and Surrounding Territories
By Robert Michael Pyle, Idie Ulsh, David Nunnallee
2.Butterflies of British Columbia
By Crispin S. Guppy, Jon H. Shepard
3.The Butterflies of North America
By James A. Scott
Contributed by Joel Kits on 13 March, 2005 - 2:21pm
Additional contributions by Hartmut Wisch
Last updated 28 August, 2007 - 1:29am

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