Copper in Alaska - Lycaena dorcas

Moved

Moved from Blues, Coppers, Hairstreaks, Harvesters.

… R, 22 July, 2025 - 1:42pm

Moved

… v belov, 2 July, 2023 - 1:58pm

From Philip & Ferris

I checked my copy of Butterflies of Alaska, A Field Guide ©2015(1), pp. 34-37.
There are a limited number of photos and descriptions of 3 species (with a total of 4 subspecies).
This taxonomy could be different with different authors. This is based only on this reference.

Species 24: Lycaena phlaeas

Lycaena phlaeas arethusa
Near Fairbanks, L. p. arethusa is associated with bog edges where Rumex grows.
Adults appear in late July and into August.

Lycaena phlaeas Unnamed ssp. north of the Brooks Range.
(This ssp. appears eliminated by range)

Diagnostic Characters: "The distinct coppery color and the red-orange band along the inner margin of the HW, separate phlaeas from the other two Lycaena species found in Alaska. Sexes similar."

. . . . . . . . . .

Species 25: Lycaena dorcas arcticus - Arctic Copper
Flight period is July.
Looks like there is a fair number of records in and around Fairbanks.
Diagnostic Characters: "Sexually dimorphic with the females displaying dorsally much more orange color than the males. The general violet color dorsally with the orange crenulate submarginal band and violet-ochre VHW separate dorcas from the other two Copper species.

. . . . . . . . . .

Species 26: Lycaena mariposa charlottensis - Queen Charlotte's Copper
Known only from the southeastern islands and mile 41 of the Haines Hwy., near the BC border.
Flight is late June into July
(This ssp. appears eliminated by range)
Also the VHW on Queen Charlotte's is mottled gray - kind of cool-looking, but not cool like the Questioned Specimen.

Based on the above, these are our candidates:
Lycaena phlaeas arethusa
Lycaena dorcas arcticus

. . . . . . . . . .

My (Roy) comment:
My copy has a few images of each species.
One of my concerns is that the band on the Questioned Specimen is not "crenulate" enough, but the color looks good for dorcas.
Still my VERY TENTATIVE ID is Lycaena dorcas arcticus - Arctic Copper.
.

… R, 16 August, 2022 - 10:29am

Question (moved from 2nd image)

A question was asked (copied from the 2nd image)
Title: Still would like an ID
Hello Roy,
Why did you move this from ID request? I am interested in getting confirmation that it is either arctic or another spp.

Thanks
… Donald Hampton, 10 August, 2022 - 11:21am reply to this comment
.

… R, 10 August, 2022 - 11:10am

ID Request

ID Request currently has around 2300+ images and is 120 pages in length. The questioned specimens in ID Request may represent up to approximately 20 Classes. As you know, each Class contains numerous Infraclasses, Orders, etc., (with probably well over a million species on BG overall).

The specimen in question is currently in Class Insecta, Order Lepidoptera, Superfamily Papilionoidea. The specimen was placed there in hopes it would be seen by someone with expertise in Alaskan Lycaenidae and/or Lycaeninae. Later the record may be moved to Family, Sub-Family, etc.

You are free to move your own record.

Thank you for your question.
.

… R, 10 August, 2022 - 11:43am

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

Check all the following that apply to this image:
Please check adult (moth/butterfly) and/or immature (egg/caterpillar/pupa) when submitting to Lepidoptera.
If you don't know for sure, don't check it. For example: for caterpillars check immature and for butterflies and moths check adult. If the photo shows mating behavior, check both male and female. Representative photos appear on info and browse pages (checked by default).
Representative
Male
Female
Adult
Immature

… R, 8 August, 2022 - 3:29pm

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