Identification
Adult: dark brown above, sometimes with an orange spot above the tail. The underside is pale brown. It is best distinguished from other similar hairstreaks by the band of white-rimmed circular spots on the undersides (in some specimens, this chain is reduced or absent). Another defining characteristic is the long orange mark along the inner margin of the hindwing underside. Similar species have only a small amount of orange.
[description by Butterflies of Canada]
Larva: dark greenish-brown with pale oblique dashes
Range
Northeastern and north-central North America
Habitat
Dry woods, thickets, with oaks.
Season
Adults fly from May to July in the south (one brood); late June into August in Canada.
Food
Larvae feed on leaves of oak: especially Scrub Oak (Quercus ilicifolia) and Black Oak (Q. velutina); also White Oak (Q. alba) in southern Ontario, Red Oak (Q. rubra) in Quebec, and Bur Oak (Q. macrocarpa) in Manitoba.
Adults take nectar from a variety of flowers, especially milkweed (Asclepias spp.) and White Sweet Clover (Melilotus alba).
Life Cycle
Eggs are laid in crevices and wounds in the bark. First- and second-instar larvae feed during the day, older larvae only at night, spending the day in shelters built by ants at the base of the tree, where they are tended and protected by ants; they later pupate there.
[Butterflies of Canada]
See Also
The lack of an orange cap on the blue spot on the hindwing underside means that the Edwards' Hairstreak is likely to be confused only with the Banded and Hickory Hairstreaks (S. calanus and S. caryaevorum). In both of these species the dark spots beneath are rectangular and fused to form a band rather than being broken into rounded spots, and there is only a small amount of orange on the inner margin of the hindwing beneath.
Internet References
adult image plus description, distribution, similar species, biology, habitat, food plants, flight season (Butterflies of Canada, CBIF)
Contributed by
Cotinis on 6 June, 2004 - 10:53pm
Additional contributions by
Robin McLeodLast updated 27 February, 2006 - 11:45pm
