Eastern Tailed-Blue (Butterflies of Alabama)

Eastern Tailed-Blue

Cupido comyntas

Summary ⁷

The Eastern Tailed-blue or Eastern Tailed Blue (Cupido comyntas), also known as Everes comyntas, is a common butterfly of eastern North America. Males are generally blue on the upperside of their wings while females are lighter blue to brown or charcoal in coloring, but there are also varieties of purple and pink found in both sexes. The underside coloration ranges from bluish-white to tan. There are two or three (outermost one often faint) black to orange...

North american ecology (us and canada) ⁸

Resident in Eastern North America (Scott 1986), with several isolated populations in the west. Habitats are upper Sonoran zone/lower Austral zone to lower Canadian zone desert foothills, moist meadows, streamsides, and forest clearings. Host plants are usually herbaceous or shrubs and include many species, but mostly in one family, with most known hosts from Leguminosae. Eggs are laid on the host plant singly. Individuals overwinter as larvae, sometimes in host pods. There are several flights each year with the approximate flight times May1-Oct 31 in the northern part of the range, and Feb1-Nov30 on gulf coast, May15-Sept15 in Colorado, Mar1-Sept30 in Calif. (Scott 1986).