''Euphilotes battoides'', the square-spotted blue or buckwheat blue, is a species of

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...

of the family

Lycaenidae Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterf ...

. It is found in western North America from

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

south to

Baja California Norte Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the Political divisions of Mexi ...

and then west to southern

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

and

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

.Butterflies and Moths of North America
/ref> The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan o ...

is 16–17 mm. The upperside of the females is brown often with an orange band on the outer edge of the hindwings. Males are blue with dark borders and sometimes an orange band on the outer edge of the hindwings. The underside is off white to grey with black spots. Adults are on wing from mid April to August in one generation per year. They feed on the flower nectar of various plants, but mostly ''

Eriogonum ''Eriogonum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Polygonaceae. The genus is found in North America and is known as wild buckwheat. This is a highly species-rich genus, and indications are that active speciation is continuing. It incl ...

'' species. The larvae feed on the flowers and fruits of ''

'' species. Subspecies ''battoides'' has been recorded on ''Eriogonum lobbii'' var. ''lobbii'', '' Eriogonum incanum'' and ''Eriogonum polypodum'', while subspecies ''glaucon'' feeds on ''

Eriogonum umbellatum ''Eriogonum umbellatum'' is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common name sulphurflower buckwheat, or simply sulphur flower. It is native to western North America from California to Colorado to central Canada, where it is abundant and fou ...

'', ''Eriogonum ovalifolium'' var. ''nivale'', ''

Eriogonum heracleoides ''Eriogonum heracleoides'' (common names; parsnipflower buckwheat, whorled buckwheat, and Wyeth buckwheat) is a plant of western North America that has many flowering clusters which are usually cream colored, or off-white. It can usually be found ...

'', ''Eriogonum sphaerocephalum'' var. ''halimioides'' and ''Eriogonum flavum'' var. ''piperi'' and subspecies ''comstocki'' feeds on ''

''. Subspecies ''allyni'' has been recorded feeding on ''Eriogonum parvifolium'' var. ''parvifolium'', records of ''

Eriogonum cinereum ''Eriogonum cinereum'' is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common names coastal buckwheat and ashyleaf buckwheat. Distribution This shrub is endemic to the coastline of Southern California, primarily within Los Angeles County and Vent ...

'' and ''Eriogonum fasciculatum'' var. ''fasciculatum'' are in error, allyni is restricted to E. Parvifolium. The larvae are tended by ants. The species overwinters, in chrysalis, in sand or leaf litter.

Subspecies

*''E. b. battoides'' (Behr, 1867) (California) *''E. b. glaucon'' (Edwards, 1871) (British Columbia to northeastern California and southern Idaho) *''E. b. comstocki'' (Shields, 1975) *''E. b. centralis'' (Barnes & McDunnough, 1917) (southern Colorado to northern New Mexico) *'' E. b. allyni'' (Shields, 1975) El Segundo blue butterfly (California) *''E. b. argocyanea'' (Pratt and J. Emmel, 1998) *''E. b. fusimaculata'' (Pratt and J. Emmel, 1998) *''E. b. mazourka'' (Pratt and J. Emmel, 1998) *''E. b. panamintensis'' (Pratt and J. Emmel, 1998) *''E. b. vernalis'' (Pratt and J. Emmel, 1998)

Invalid Subspecies

*~~''E. b. bernardino''~~ (Barnes & McDunnough, 1916) – Bernardino Square-spotted Blue *~~''E. b. centralis''~~ (Barnes & McDunnough, 1917) *~~''E. b. intermedia''~~ (Barnes & McDunnough, 1917) *~~''E. b. baueri''~~ (Shields, 1975) *~~''E. b. ellisi''~~ (Shields, 1975)

References

Butterflies described in 1867 Euphilotes Butterflies of North America Taxa named by Hans Hermann Behr {{Polyommatini-stub