Subfamily Theclinae - Hairstreaks

Classification · Remarks

Great Purple Hairstreak - Atlides halesus - female

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 Theclinae (Hairstreaks)

Remarks

The most notable feature of hairstreaks is the tails on the hindwings. Combined with bright spots that look like eyes, they give the illusion that the back end of the wings is really the head. This fools birds and other visually-oriented predators often enough to increase the hairstreaks' odds for survival.

Here's an example- both are the same species in the same area within a few days of each other:

You can see the fake eyes and antennae on this one:

And this one has survived an attack- it's missing a chunk of its wings, but it's still alive and flying around:

Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by Chuck Entz
Last updated 23 August, 2006 - 2:38am

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