Celastrina neglecta

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Summer azure
Female, upperside
C. n. neglecta, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Genus: Celastrina
Species:
C. neglecta
Binomial name
Celastrina neglecta
(W.H. Edwards, 1862)

Celastrina neglecta, the summer azure, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America. Layberry, Hall, and Lafontaine, in The Butterflies of Canada, describe the species:

The upper surface is pale blue with an extensive dusting of white scales, especially on the hindwing. In some females the blue is almost entirely replaced by white with a small amount of blue near the wing bases. Females have a broad blackish-grey band on the outer third and costa of the forewing. The underside is chalky white to pale grey with tiny dark grey spots and a zigzagged submarginal line on the hindwing.[1]

Wingspan is 23 to 29 mm (0.91 to 1.14 in).

Known host plants for the caterpillars include

goldenrods.[2]

The summer azure occurs across most of eastern and central United States as well as southern Canada from Nova Scotia to southern Saskatchewan. Adults fly from mid-June until early October with two or three generations in the south.[3]

The taxonomic status of this butterfly, originally described as Lycaena neglecta Edwards, 1862, has been in flux over the years. It was at one time treated as a synonym of Celastrina argiolus lucia (

Lycaena lucia Kirby, 1837).[4]

Similar species

  • Spring azure
    (C. ladon)
  • Cherry gall azure
    (C. serotina)
  • Holly azure
    (C. idella)
  • Lucia azure
    (C. lucia)

References

  1. ^ Layberry, Ross. A., Peter Wl. Hall, and J. Donald Lafontaine. The Butterflies of Canada. University of Toronto Press, 1998. Reproduced with permission at Summer Azure, Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility
  2. ^ "Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta)". Vermont Center for Ecostudies. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
  3. ^ Jim P. Brock and K. Kaufman. Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America, New York, NY:Houghton Mifflin, 2003.
  4. ^ Eliot, J.N.; Kawazoe, A. (1983). Blue butterflies of the Lycaenopsis group. London.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

External links