Gossamer-winged Butterflies

Gossamer-winged Butterflies – family Lycaenidae*

*Different classifications exist, with some sub-families treated as independent families.

Small butterflies in general
Most have at least one spot near the bottom edge of each hindwing.
Most have a short, thread-like tail trailing off each hindwing.
Perch with wings closed, making the field marks on the under-surface of their wings the easiest to use for identification.
- Upper wings are usually visible in flight only unless individual basks with wings spread.

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Class	Insecta
Order	Lepidoptera
Family	Lycaenidae (Gossamer Wing Butterflies)
Genus species	Everes comyntas

Wingspan: 0.5 – 1.0 inches (1.3 – 2.5 cm)
Above:
- Males and females differ in appearance.
  - Males are bright, solid blue. Wings are rimmed in thin band of brown.
  - Females are either dull blue (spring-time females) or dark, slate gray (summer and fall females).
- Each hindwing of both sexes has 1-3 small, orange and black spots, and a single, short, thread-like tail.
Below:
- Males and females are similar in appearance.
- Wings are pale gray, with curved rows of small black spots and bars.
- Each hindwing has 1-3 small, orange and black spots, and a single, short, thread-like tail.

Flight Season: End of March through October.
Look for adult Eastern Tailed-blue butterflies in open, sunny areas with low-growing vegetation, like meadows, fields, and overgrown lawns. They are also common in disturbed areas like power line cuts and along railroads.
Adult butterflies feed on nectar from a wide variety of flowering plants, especially:
- White Sweet Clover (Melilotus alba)
- Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
- Daisy Fleabane (Erigeron annuus)
These butterflies like to fly low, almost hugging the ground, and have a fast, fluttery, up and down flight.
They can be hard to see when perched because of their small size and relatively inconspicuous ventral wing surface coloration.
- The best way to spot these butterflies is to wait motionless in a likely habitat, like a flowery meadow, and watch carefully for flitting motion inches above the tops of the plants. Follow the butterfly with your eyes until it lands.
Male Eastern Tailed-Blue butterflies also like to “puddle” or gather around damp soil to drink salts and other minerals.

Eastern Tailed-blue butterflies lay their eggs in flower buds and stems (Pyle 1981).

Eastern Tailed-blue caterpillars are very small; only about 0.4 inches (1 cm) (Wagner 2005)
- Color varies; can be green, yellow, pink, or purple-brown.
- Covered in tiny white speckles.
- Very little visible difference between the caterpillars’ front- and hind-ends.
Eastern Tailed-Blue butterflies have three broods per year in North Carolina, starting in February and extending through to November (Opler and Malikul 1992).
Look for Eastern Tailed-blue caterpillars on plants in the Pea family (Fabaceae) like:
- Tick-trefoils (Desmodium spp.)
- Bush clovers (Lespedeza spp.)
- Sweet clovers (Melilotus spp.)
- Clovers (Trifolium spp.)
- Vetches (Vicia spp.)
The caterpillars eat mostly the flowers and seeds of these plants, but sometimes eat young leaves also (Wagner 2005).