Acadia National Park Butterfly Guide 🦋

Color: Probably best determined by being tailless and lacking orange markings; uppersurface of males unmarked blue, females blue with at least some black on outer half of forewing; both sexes with undersurface of forewing and hindwing grayish with charcoal marginal band, hindwing with black-gray irregular disk blotch and spots.
Wingspan: Forewing 1.0-1.4 cm.
Host plants: diverse - includes Adenostoma, Amelanchier, Arbutus, Baccharis, Ceanothus, Celastrus, Chamaebatiaria, Cornus, Diervilla, Eriodictyon, Eriogonum, Heteromeles, Holodiscus, Jamesia, Kalmia, Ledum, Lotus, Lupinus, Petrophytum, Physocarpus, Prunus, Ribes, Rhododendron, Sambucus, Spiraea, Vaccinium, and Viburnum
Overwintering stage: pupae
Mate-Location system: patrolling
Flight:

https://fieldguide.mt.gov/speciesDetail.aspx?elcode=IILEPG0100 less ↑

Color: Upperside of male brownish with purple iridescence; female dull gray-brown. Underside of both sexes white or pale tan; hindwing with very small black spots and red zigzag border on outer margin.
Wingspan: 7/8 - 1 inch (2.2 - 2.5 cm)
Host plants: Shrubby cranberries in the heath family (Ericaceae).
Overwintering stage: First-stage caterpillars
Mate-Location system: perching
Flight: June-September

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Lycaena-epixanthe less ↑

Color: Hindwing has 1 long and 1 short tail. Upperside of both sexes dark brown. Underside of hindwing dark brown with postmedian band of dark dashes edged in white. Blue tail-spot not topped with orange.
Wingspan: 1 - 1 1/2 inches (2.5 - 3.8 cm)
Host plants: Many species of oak (Quercus), walnut (Juglans), and hickory (Carya).
Adult food: Nectar from flowers including dogbane and common milkweed (preferred), chinquapin, small-flowered dogwood, New Jersey tea, meadowsweet, staghorn sumac, white sweet clover, and yarrow.
Overwintering stage: eggs
Mate-Location system: perching
Flight: June-August in the north

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Satyrium-calanus less ↑

Color: Upperside has black spots and orange-brown areas surrounded by black. Underside hindwing is orange-brown to orange-purple with small, faint white circles.
Wingspan: 1 1/8 - 1 1/4 inches (3 - 3.2 cm)
Host plants: Woolly aphids (Neoprociphilus, Pemphigus, Prociphilus, and Schizoneura) and sometimes scale insects or treehoppers; these insects suck sap from alders, witch hazel, ash, beech, hawthorn, and wild currant.
Overwintering stage: unknown, but probably older larvae
Mate-Location system: perching
Flight: May-August in the north

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Feniseca-tarquinius
Scott, 1986 The Butterflies of North America less ↑

Color: Hindwing with 1 long and 1 short tail. Upperside dark brown; male with a long, oval spot along forewing costa. Underside of both wings with rows of widely separated white stripes; blue spot near tails topped with orange. Outer margin of hindwing indented above short tail.
Wingspan: 1 - 1 1/2 inches (2.5 - 3.9 cm)
Host plants: Several woody trees and shrubs in the rose (Rosaceae) family including American plum; and heath (Ericaceae) family; also reports for hornbeam, oak, and willow.
Adult food: Nectar from chinquapin, common milkweed, dogbane, goldenrod, meadowsweet, New Jersey tea, staghorn sumac, viburnum, and white sweet clover.
Overwintering stage: eggs
Mate-Location system: perching
Flight: July-August in the north

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Satyrium-liparops less ↑

Color: Seasonally variable and sexually dimorphic. Upperside of males blue, females with some black at outer edge of forewing. Late spring and summer forms with white above. Underside hindwing gray-white with faded small black dots, darker gray with larger black spots, or with blotches and black margins in the center.
Wingspan: 7/8 - 1 3/8 inches (2.2 -3.5 cm)
Host plants: Flowers of a variety of woody shrubs and occasionally herbs including dogwood (Cornus florida), New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americana), meadowsweet (Spiraea salicifolia), and Collinsia.
Adult food: Flower nectar from dogbane, privet, New Jersey tea, blackberry, common milkweed, and many others.
Overwintering stage: chrysalis
Mate-Location system: patrolling and perching
Flight: Many broods from January-October along the Gulf Coast; progressively shorter flights northward; May-August in Canada.

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Celastrina-ladon less ↑

aka American copper

Color: Upper surface of forewing shiny, fiery orange-red with black spots; hindwing gray with orange-red outer margin. Underside gray; hindwing with submarginal row of orange-red zigzags.
Wingspan: 7/8 - 1 3/8 inches (2.2 - 3.5 cm)
Host plants: Herbs of the buckwheat (Polygonaceae) family including sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella), curled dock (Rumex crispus), and Oxyria digyna.
Adult food: Nectar from many flowers including common buttercup, white clover, butterflyweed, yarrow, ox-eye daisy, and various composites.
Overwintering stage: chrysalis
Mate-Location system: perching
Flight: 1 flight from July-September for alpine and arctic populations. 2 flights in the north from June-July and August-September; 3 flights in the south from April-September.

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Lycaena-phlaeas less ↑

Color: No tails. Upperside of male gray-brown; female reddish brown. Underside chestnut brown with dark, irregular postmedian line; hindwing darker at base.
Wingspan: 7/8 - 1 1/8 inches (2.2 - 2.9 cm)
Host plants: In the East, members of the heath family (Ericaceae), including sugar huckleberry (Vaccinium vacillans) and Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum). In the west, many other plants including madrone (Arbutus) and dodder (Cuscuta).
Overwintering stage: chrysalis
Mate-Location system: perching
Flight: May-July in the north, March-April in the south.

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Callophrys-augustinus less ↑

Color: Upperside of male iridescent silvery blue with narrow dark borders; female darker blue with wide borders. Both sexes have white fringe. Underside gray-brown; both wings with row of white-ringed, round black spots.
Wingspan: 7/8 - 1 1/4 inches (2.2 - 3.2 cm)
Host plants: Astragalus, Lotus, Lupinus, Melilotus, Oxytropis, Lathyrus, Vicia, and other species in the pea family
Overwintering stage: chrysalis
Mate-Location system: patrolling
Flight: One flight from March-June at low elevations, June-August at high elevations

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Glaucopsyche-lygdamus less ↑

Color: One narrow tail on hindwing. Upperside of male iridescent blue; summer females uniformly brown, spring females smaller with much blue at the wing bases. Underside of hindwing pale gray with black bar at end of cell, distinct black spots, and three large orange spots at outer margin near tail.
Wingspan: 7/8 - 1 1/8 inches (2.2 - 2.9 cm)
Host plants: Many plants in the pea family including yellow sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis), alfalfa (Medicago sativa); various species of vetch (Vicia), clover (Trifolium), wild pea (Lathyrus), and bush clover (Lespedeza); and others.
Adulot food: white sweet clover, shepherd's needle, wild strawberry, winter cress, cinquefoils, asters, and others.
Overwintering stage: caterpillars
Mate-Location system: patrolling
Flight: 3 broods from April-November in the north, many broods from February-November in the south.

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Cupido-comyntas less ↑

Color: One tail on hindwing. Upperside blue-gray with large red spot near tail. Underside of spring/fall form is dark gray, summer form is paler gray. Relatively straight postmedian line is white, bordered with orange on the inside edge.
Wingspan: 7/8 - 1 3/8 inches (2.2 - 3.5 cm)
Host plants: pea (Fabaceae) and mallow (Malvaceae) families including beans (Phaseolus), clovers (Trifolium), cotton (Gossypium), and mallow (Malva)
Adult food: Nectar from many flower species including dogbane, milkweed, mint, winter cress, goldenrod, tick trefoil, and white sweet clover.
Overwintering stage: chrysalis
Mate-Location system: perching
Flight: 2 flights from May-September in the north, 3-4 flights from February-November in the south.

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Strymon-melinus less ↑

Color: Tailless. Upperside dark brown; female with dark borders. Underside banded with dark brown; hindwing with submarginal gray band outside row of black crescents.
Wingspan: 1 - 1 1/4 inches (2.5 - 3.2 cm)
Host plants: Various hard pines including scrub pine (Pinus virginiana) and jack pine (P. banksiana), and the soft white pine (P. strobus).
Adult food: Nectar of many different flowers including blueberry, cinquefoil, chickweed, common milkweed, and white sweet clover.
Overwintering stage: chrysalis
Mate-Location system: perching
Flight: March-June

https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Callophrys-niphon less ↑