Western tailed-blue

Western tailed-blue
Mating pair
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Genus: Cupido
Species: C. amyntula
Binomial name
Cupido amyntula
Boisduval, 1852

The western tailed-blue (Cupido amyntula) is a member of the Lycaenidae family and is seen across western North America as far norther as Alaska.[1] The upperside of the male butterfly is blue while the female has a darker brown band on the outer side of the wing. The underside is riddled with black spots, with a wingspan of 2.2 to 2.9 cm. The larvae feed on Thermopsis, Astragalus, Oxytropis, Vicia, and Lathyrus.[2]

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, January 18, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.