Hemiargus isola

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Description

Family Lycaenidae

'The Lycaenidae are members of the Superfamily Papilionoidea, the true butterflies. Worldwide in distribution, this family has approximately 4,700 species that are unevenly distributed. Coppers are especially dominant in north temperate regions , blues are richest in the Old World tropics and north temperate zones, and hairstreaks are particularly abundant in New World tropics. The adults are typically small to tiny and often brilliantly colored--iridescent blues, bright reds, and oranges. Adults of both sexes have three pairs of walking legs , though most males have fused segments in their front legs. Most adults visit flowers for nectar, but some harvesters feed on wooly aphid honeydew and some hairstreaks feed on aphid honeydew or bird droppings. Females lay single, sea urchin shaped eggs on host leaves or flower buds; the resulting caterpillars are typically slug-shaped. In many species, caterpillars depend on ants for protection, so caterpillars produce sugary secretions that are collected by the ants. Most species overwinter in either the egg or pupal stage.

'[1]

Subfamily Polyommatinae

Blues are tiny to small butterflies of the Family Lycaenidae. Distributed worldwide, they are most diverse in Southeast Asia, tropical Africa, and northern temperate regions . Most of the nearly 50 North American species are found in the west. Adult males are predominantly blue above, due to reflected light rather than pigmentation . Some males and most females are largely brown above. Below, wings of both sexes are usually gray-white with black spots or streaks. Adults in some genera (Euphilotes, Lycaeides, Plebulina, and Icaricia) have more or less prominent orange submarginal bands on their hindwings . Most adults are found near their host plants , and they do not fly long distances , though some tropical and subtropical species undertake long migrations. Adults visit flowers for nectar. Males frequent moist sand and mud , and females lay eggs singly on host plant leaves or flowers. As caterpillars, they secrete sugary secretions that attract ants , and caterpillars of some species are raised in ant nests. Blues usually overwinter in the pupal stage.[2]

Habitat

Frequents gardens.

Taxonomy

Similar Species

Members of the genus Hemiargus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 6 species and subspecies in this genus:

H. ammon (Nickerbean Blue) · H. ceraunus (Ceraunus Blue) · H. ceraunus antibubastus (Ceraunus Blue) · H. hanno (Hanno Blue) · H. isola (Reakirt's Blue) · H. thomasi (Caribbean Blue)

More Info

• Search for Pictures: images.google.com
• Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
• Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
• Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books

Further Reading

• Annotated checklist of the butterflies of Illinois [by] Roderick R. Irwin [and] John C. Downey. Urbana, Illinois Natural History Survey, 1973. url p. 23, p. 54.
• Annual report / Albany: University of the State of New York, 1902-1918. url p. 76.
• Bibliography (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera) / Charles A. Bridges. Urbana, Ill.: C.A. Bridges, c1993. url p. 345, p. 56.
• Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences. Los Angeles, Calif.: The Academy, 1902-1971. url p. 12, p. 49, p. 82.
• Catalogue of the family-group, genus-group and species-group names of the Riodinidae & Lycaenidae (Lepidoptera) of the world / Charles A. Bridges. Urbana, Ill.: C.A. Bridges, c1994. url p. 15.
• Entomological news. [Philadelphia]American Entomological Society, 1925- url p. 118, p. 149, p. 254, p. 289.
• Guide to California insects. Berkeley, The Law press, 1913. url p. 30.
• Journal of entomology and zoology. Claremont, Calif., U.S.A.: Pomona College Dept. of Zoology, [1913- url p. 34.
• Journal of the New York Entomological Society. Lawrence, Kan.: Allen Press [etc.] url p. 164, p. 48.
• Museum bulletin / New York State Museum. Albany, N.Y.: University of the State of New York, 1908-1916. url p. 76.
• Phytologia. Bronx Park, New York, H.A. Gleason and H.N. Moldenke, url p. 135, p. 305.
• Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 4th series. San Francisco, California Academy of Sciences. url p. 304.
• The Great Basin naturalist. 59 1999 Provo, Utah: M.L. Bean Life Science Museum, Brigham Young University, 1939-1999. url p. 56.
• The Lepidopterists' news: the monthly newsletter of the Lepidopterists' Society. Cambridge, Mass.: Lepidopterists' Society, 1947-1958. url p. 37.
• The University of Kansas science bulletin. 26 1939 [Lawrence]: University of Kansas, 1902-1996. url p. 339, p. 347.
• Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History. 6 1930 [San Diego]: The Society, 1905-1989. url p. 27.
• Tulane studies in zoology. 6 1958 New Orleans: Tulane University, 1953-1968. url p. 107.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 10, 2012.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed March 18, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 3 providers.
• NatureServe. 2003. Downloadable animal data sets. NatureServe Central Databases. Accessed February 6, 2005.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 18, 2008:

• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Royal Saskatchewan Museum Collection
• Illinois Natural History Survey

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2602666
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 17433462
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 16420

Footnotes

1. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/taxonomy?f=16&sci=Lycaenidae&com=Gossamer-wing Butterflies [back]
2. http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=Plebulina&search=Search [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.