Lycaena arota, the tailed copper, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America from New Mexico north and west to Oregon, south to southern California and Baja California, Mexico.[2]
| Tailed copper | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Lycaenidae |
| Genus: | Lycaena |
| Species: | L. arota
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| Binomial name | |
| Lycaena arota | |
| Synonyms | |
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The average wingspan ranges from 30–35 mm. Each hindwing has a tail. The upper surface of the males is copper brown with an iridescent purple sheen. The upperside of the females has an orange and dark brown pattern. The underside of both males and females is gray, with black spots on the forewings and a band of white crescents on the hindwings. Adults are on wing from May to August in one generation per year. The migration of butterflies can be caused by various factors such as the distribution of food plants, evasion of natural enemies, and climate change.[3] They feed on flower nectar.
The larvae feed on the leaves of Ribes species. The species overwinters as an egg. It is commonly confused with two other species, The Lycaena gorgon and L. xanthoides .[4]
Subspecies edit
- Lycaena arota arota
- Lycaena arota virginiensis Edwards, 1870 (California, Nevada, Colorado)
- Lycaena arota nubila (Comstock, 1926) (California) – clouded copper
- Lycaena arota schellbachi (Tilden, 1955) (Arizona) – Schellbach's copper
References edit
- ^ Lycaena at Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera
- ^ Tailed Copper, Butterflies and Moths of North America
- ^ Park, Seong-Joon; Park, Doo-Sang; Kim, Na-Rae; Kim, Do Sung (September 2014). "Habitat distributional change of the large copper". Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology. 17 (3): 245–250. doi:10.1016/j.aspen.2014.01.006.
- ^ "Tailed Copper, Lycaena Arota".
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