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Photo#60276
Tailed something or other? - Cupido comyntas

Tailed something or other? - Cupido comyntas
Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas, USA
September 21, 2005

hairstreak
well, it's definitely a hairstreak. Family is Gossamer-winged butterflies; Sub-Family is Theclinae. But, they are so subtley different that it's hard to tell which one.

The ones I would consider are: gray hairstreak (Strymon melinus), Mallow Scrub Hairstreak (Strymon istapa), Acadian Hairstreak (Satyrium acadica), Sylvan Hairstreak (Satyrium sylvinus), and maybe the Coral Hairstreak (Satyrium titus)

 
Well...
It looks a lot like a Tailed-Blue to me --- certainly Gossamer-winged. I f it itsn't, I'd appreaciate help/discussion of the identification.

In Ohio it'd probably be called and Easter Tailed Blue; I don't know what could be expected in Kansas

 
Thanks to both, once again.
I ran across this and related images in a file about a year-old, where I'd identified it as a grey hairstreak. However, looking at it fresh and next to other hairstreaks, decided I was wrong. I'll check more on tailed blue.

I thought the tail on the hairstreaks was typically lower than the blues. Have either of you a take on this?

(Written a little later: Eastern Tailed Blue works for me. The Guide doesn't have any for Kansas, but does in adjacent states. Wish I had my list of Sedgewick County butterflies. May try again to find it. There are about 180 species there.)

 
Eastern Tailed Blue it is.
Confirmed by images at Bug Guide and "Butterflies through Binoculars: The West". BTW, I did get a "Checklist of Kansas Butterflies" from Great Plains Nature Center. It lists 181 species for Kansas, not Sedgwick County as I'd implied above. Of the 181, more than half are comprised by brushfoots (55 species) and skippers (60 species.)

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