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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Butterflies and Skippers (Papilionoidea) » Blues, Coppers, Hairstreaks, Harvesters (Lycaenidae) » Hairstreaks (Theclinae) » Eumaeini » Callophrys » Thicket Hairstreak - Hodges#4310 (Callophrys spinetorum)

Species Callophrys spinetorum - Thicket Hairstreak - Hodges#4310

Thicket Hairstreak - Callophrys spinetorum

Thicket Hairstreak - abberrant - Callophrys spinetorum

Juniper Hairstreak - Callophrys spinetorum - female

Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)

Superfamily Papilionoidea (Butterflies and Skippers)

Family Lycaenidae (Blues, Coppers, Hairstreaks, Harvesters)

Subfamily Theclinae (Hairstreaks)

Tribe Eumaeini

Genus Callophrys

Species spinetorum (Thicket Hairstreak - Hodges#4310)

Hodges Number

4310

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Mitoura cuyamaca

Mitoura spinetorum

Callophrys millerorum

originally placed in genus Thecla by Hewitson in 1867

Numbers

2 subspecies: C. s. ninus; C. s. spinetorum

fairly common in southern British Columbia but usually local and rare elsewhere

Size

wingspan 23-32 mm

Identification

Adult: upperside distinctive steel-blue with wide dark margins; underside reddish-brown with prominent black-edged white line in middle of both wings; the line forms a W shape above the hindwing tail

Larva: green with olive-colored stripe down the back, and red, white, and yellow stripes on each well-defined ridge

Range

widespread in the west from southern British Columbia and Alberta to California, New Mexico, and western Texas, south through Mexico

Habitat

coniferous and mixed forests

Season

adults fly from April to June in the north; April to August in the south

Food

larvae feed on all parts of dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium spp., Viscaceae), which is a parasite of a variety of coniferous trees

adults often sip nectar from flowers close to coniferous forests where the larval foodplant grows

Life Cycle

eggs are laid singly on the hostplant; one generation per year; overwinters as a pupa inside a chrysalis within a mass of mistletoe

Remarks

males regularly perch on the tops of trees to find receptive females

Internet References

pinned adult images plus description, biology, flight season, foodplants, habitat, distribution, US range map (Butterflies and Skippers of North America, nearctica.com)

live and pinned adult images, plus the same text and map as the nearctica.com reference above (butterfliesandmoths.org)

pinned adult image plus description, distribution, similar species, foodplants, status, flight season, habits (Butterflies of Canada)

synonyms and subspecies (All-Leps)

Contributed by Robin McLeod on 15 April, 2006 - 10:50pm
Additional contributions by Steve Nanz, Edward Ruden
Last updated 10 July, 2017 - 8:34am

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