Blue Butterflies
| Blue Butterflies: family Lycaenidae Celastrina Spring Azure Cupido Western and Eastern Tailed-Blue Echinargus Reakirt's Blue Euphilotes Pacific Dotted Blue Square-spotted Blue Glaucopsyche Arrowhead Blue Silvery Blue Hemiargus Ceraunus Blue Icaricia Fender's Blue Butterfly Leptotes Cassius Blue Lycaeides Melissa Blue Plebejus Acmon Blue Boisduval's Blue Greenish Blue Lupine Blue Northern Blue Butterfly Pictures and Information |
With over fifty blue butterfly species found in the United States, identifying any single species can be challenging. Taking into consideration that all blue butterflies are not blue, only complicates the issue.
Complications aside, successful identification begins with a close inspection of the top and bottom sides of their wings. Consider the following two pictures.
The first picture shows a blue butterfly with a series of orange and dark spots on the bottom side of the wing.
More than a few different species of blue butterflies, such as the Lupine Blue, the Acmon Blue and the Pacific Dotted Blue, share that characteristic.
Therefore, having only a side view of the butterfly is not sufficient for identification purposes.
Complimenting the side view (i.e., the view when the wings are folded) with a top view (i.e., the view with open wings), helps in many instances when a side view is insufficient for identification purposes.
Fortunately, blue butterflies enjoy basking in the sun, and photographic patience is usually rewarded by getting both a top and side view wing picture.
The top view of this same butterfly shows a dark border around the wings, with an orange and dark spotted pattern on the bottom of the wings.
Because physical characteristics of any particular butterfly species can also differ from location to location, the darker border clue may or may not help with identification.
However, both the top and side views suggest the butterfly in the photo is either an Acmon Blue or a Lupine Blue.
Sometimes, even with a good view and/or some good pictures, without knowledge of the exact butterfly location, and maybe even a genetic test, accurate identification is problematic for some species.
The seventeen blue butterflies listed in the box on the right span ten different genera. As such, they are characterized by a broad range of markings on the top and bottom sides of the wings, which helps with species identification.
© 2007-2009. Patricia A. Michaels