Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Lycaenidae Rank Species | Phylum Arthropoda Order Lepidoptera Genus Callophrys | |
Similar Callophrys augustinus, Western pine elfin, Callophrys niphon, Callophrys sheridanii, Lycaena hyllus | ||
Euchloe olympia olympia marble callophrys polios hoary elfin
Callophrys polios, the hoary elfin, is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It has a very local distribution in the United States from Maine south to New Jersey and in the Appalachian Mountains to Virginia, west across the Great Lakes states and the southern prairie provinces and north to Alaska. Along the Pacific Coast it is found to northern California and in the Rocky Mountains south to northern New Mexico.
Contents
The wingspan is 22–29 mm. The upperside is orangish brown and the underside brown. The forewing outer margin is frosted white and has an irregular postmedian line, which is white. The outer half of the hindwing is frosted light gray. Adults are on wing from April to June in one generation. They feed on flower nectar from various species, including leatherleaf, pyxie, wild strawberry and willow.
The larvae feed on Arctostaphylos uva-ursi and possibly Epigaea repens. Hibernation takes place as a chrysalid.