Lycaena phlaeas

Small copper
Aston Upthorpe, Oxfordshire
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Genus: Lycaena
Species: L. phlaeas
Binomial name
Lycaena phlaeas
(L., 1761)
Synonyms
  • Papilio phlaeas Linnaeus, 1761
  • Papilio timeus Cramer, [1777]
  • Papilio virgaureae Scopoli, 1763
  • Lycaena phlaeas aestivus Zeller, 1847
  • Polyommatus turcicus Gerhard, 1853
  • Heodes hyperborea Ford, 1924
  • Chrysophanus phloeas feildeni McLachlan, 1878
  • Heodes phlaeas coccineus Ford, 1924
  • Heodes phlaeas flavens Ford, 1924
  • Heodes ethiopica Poulton, 1922
  • Lycaena phlaeas f. polaris Courvoisier, 1911
  • Lycaena phlaeus chinensis ab. kurilensis Matsumura, 1928
  • Heodes kuriliphlaeas Bryk, 1942
  • Chrysophanus arethusa Dod, 1907
  • Chrysophanus abbottii Holland, 1892
  • Chrysophanus abbottii Holland, 1896
  • Polyommatus phlaeas var. comedarum Grum-Grshimailo, 1890
  • Polyommatus phlaeas var. oxiana Grum-Grshimailo, 1890
  • Polyommatus turanica Rühl, 1895
  • Lycaena phlaeas f. naruena Courvoisier, 1911
  • Heodes coccineus Ford, 1924
  • Chrysophanus pseudophlaeas Lucas, 1866
  • Chrysophanus phlaeas var. menelicki Thierry-Mieg, 1910
  • Heodes matsumuranus Bryk, 1946
  • Polyommatus hypophlaeas Boisduval, 1852
  • Lycaena americana Harris, 1862
  • Chrysophanus phlaeas var. americana ab. fasciata Strecker, 1878
  • Chrysophanus americanus ab. fulliolus Hulst, 1886
  • Lycaena bacchus Scudder, 1889
  • Heodes hypophlaeas ab. obliterata Scudder, 1889
  • Chrysophanus phlaeas adrienne Maynard, 1891
  • Heodes hypophlaeas f. caeca Reiff, 1913
  • Chrysophanus hypohplaeas ab. octomaculata Dean, 1918
  • Heodes hypophlaeas hypophlaeas ab. banksi Watson & Comstock, 1920
  • Heodes hypophlaeas ab. fulvus Rummel, 1929
  • Heodes hypophlaeas ab. neui Rummel, 1929
  • Hesperia eleus Fabricius, 1798
  • Lycaena phlaeas f. caerulopunctata Rühl, 1895
  • Chrysophanus phlaeas ab. oberthuri Blachier, 1908
  • Lycaena shima Gabriel, 1954

The small copper, American copper, or the common copper (Lycaena phlaeas) is a butterfly of the Lycaenids or gossamer-winged butterfly family. According to Guppy and Shepard (2001), its specific name phlaeas is said to be derived either from the Greek Phlego, "to burn up" or from the Latin Floreo, "to flourish".

Description

L. p. caeruleopunctata, Oxfordshire

The upperside forewings are a bright orange with a dark outside edge border and with eight or nine black spots. The hindwings are dark with an orange border. Some females also have a row of blue spots inside the orange border and are known as form caeruleopunctata. The undersides are patterned in a similar way but are paler. The black spots on the forewings are outlined in yellow and the dark colouring is replaced by a pale brownish, gray. The hindwings are the same brown/grey colour with small black dots and a narrow orange border. The caterpillars (larvae) are usually green, but some have a purple stripe down the middle of the back and along each side.



Range

It is widespread and common across Europe, Asia, and North America, and also found in North Africa south through to Ethiopia.

It can be found almost anywhere in south/central England and Wales although never, it seems, in large numbers. Its distribution becomes more patchy in northern England, Scotland and Ireland.

Habitat

It is found in a wide variety range of habitats from chalk downlands, heathland, woodland clearings to churchyards and waste ground in cities.

Habits

In bright sun it is a very active little butterfly with the males setting up small territories which they will defend vigorously against rival males or indeed any unlucky passing insect. Even the shadow of a large bird passing overhead is enough to elicit a response. Females are pursued and mating usually occurs in vegetation.

Life cycle

The eggs are laid singly and conspicuously on the upperside of foodplant leaves and the young caterpillar feeds on the underside of the leaf creating "windows" by leaving the upper epidermis of the leaf untouched. Pupation takes place in the leaf litter and the pupa is thought to be tended by ants. There are between two and three broods a year, fewer further north. In exceptionally good years, a fourth brood sometimes occurs in the south and adults can still be seen flying into November. The species overwinters as a caterpillar.

Host-plants

Depending on the habitat, common sorrel (Rumex acetosa) and sheep's sorrel (Rumex acetosella) are the two main food-plants, although other docks (Rumex spp.) are occasionally used.

Systematics

Lycaena phlaeas belongs to the subgenus Thersamolycaena of the genus Lycaena. The species is in turn divided into several subspecies:

See also

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lycaena phlaeas.
Wikispecies has information related to: Lycaena phlaeas
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, December 10, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.