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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

Classification · Hodges Number · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · See Also · Internet References
Thicket Hairstreak - abberrant - Callophrys spinetorum hairstreak? - Callophrys spinetorum Callophrys spinetorum Thicket Hairstreak - Callophrys spinetorum Thicket Hairstreak - Callophrys spinetorum Callophrys spinetorum Callophrys? - Callophrys spinetorum Callophrys spinetorum
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
See Also
Johnson's Hairstreak (see CBIF and nearctica) is similar but has no blue on the upperside, and lacks a W-shaped zigzag in the line on the hindwing underside
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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