The eastern tailed-blue or eastern tailed blue (''Cupido comyntas''), also known as ''Everes comyntas'',Eastern Tailed Blue
Butterflies of Canada is a common

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 compris ...

of eastern North America. It is a small butterfly that is distinguished from other blues in its range by the small thin tail.

Description

Males are 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 chevron-shaped spots on the rear of the hindwings and a trailing tail off the innermost of the spots. The butterfly is wide with wings outstretched and slightly shorter in length. Eastern Tailed Blue 2

Eastern tailed-blue larvae feed on various

legumes A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock for ...

and are known to secrete a substance which is favored by some ant species. The ant in turn protects the larva of the butterfly from other predators.

Range

The butterfly is common across eastern North America, and is found as far south as

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

. The

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, a ...

form a habitat boundary between the eastern and the much less common but similar western tailed-blue butterfly. The central section of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and portions of the states of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and

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 ...

also has eastern tailed blues, which likely adapted to the habitat after being brought there inadvertently by man. The species is virtually absent from the

Rocky Mountain The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

region. It is often found in sunny open habitat.

Host plants

The caterpillars feed on the seeds and flowers, and sometimes the leaves, of various

, including vetches and

clover Clover or trefoil are common names for plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (from Latin ''tres'' 'three' + ''folium'' 'leaf'), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume or pea family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus ...

References cited

External links

Eastern tailed blue
Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility {{Taxonbar , from=Q2188369 Cupido (butterfly) Butterflies of North America Butterflies described in 1824