Lycaena heteronea

The blue copper, also known as Lycaena heteronea, is an American butterfly that belongs to the gossamer-winged family. It is bright blue in color. The butterfly is named so because of the bright blue hue of the upper side of the wings of males. Females are brown on their upper side, however both sexes have white colored wings on the underside with black spots. Blue coppers are seen on the western coast of the United States and the Southwest region in Canada, particularly British Columbia and Alberta. The males are often confused with Boisduval’s blue , another species of butterfly. Blue coppers prefer to live in areas where species of Eriogonum are found. Blue copper larvae sometimes form mutualistic associations with Formica francoeuri, an ant species.

Description
The blue copper is part of the family Lycaenidae and the subfamily Lycaeninae.   Typically, coppers are orange-red to brown with a copper tint to it. The upper wing surface of the males are sky blue with dark veins. For females, the upper wing side has more of a copper like color with black dots.  The wings are outlined in white.  Both the male and female undersides are white, but can have hues that are off-white, with brown-black dots on the forewing.  Blue coppers have a wingspan of 29 to 35 mm. Blue coppers are in flight season from April to August, but they vary in different parts of North America.  In British Columbia, adults take flight from April to July and in Alberta July to August. Males are in search for food, whereas females are looking for host plants.  Which suggests that males are inadvertently going to be around the offspring.

Geographic range
The butterfly is found in North America. In Canada, it is found specifically in southern British Columbia and Alberta.  In the United States, it can be seen in west coast states such as Washington, California, and Nevada to as far as Colorado and New Mexico. Blue coppers are fond of buckwheat and this strong preference leads to distribution of the species over wider-areas than expected.

Habitat
The blue copper is known to stay in high elevations, but in central California the species stay in low elevations.  The higher elevations are 1208 to 1651 meters high and the lower elevations are 917 to 1452 meters high. The butterfly can be seen in brushy areas, mountain meadows, open forests, and sagebrush. Though the presence of Eriogonum species attracts blue coppers, the quality of the food plant decides if the butterfly settles in that region.

Californian populations
In California, the blue copper has a restricted distribution in certain areas such as Kern and Los Angeles counties. Blue coppers stay in the flat areas of canyons. Canyon areas where the butterfly likes to inhabit are near Lebec and O’Neil Canyon. Blue coppers are also dominant where there are Quercus lobata Nee trees. At Frazier Park, they prefer the higher elevations.  The Eriogonum species, Eriogonum fasciculatum, is present at the park.  Colonies in this park are next to or close to dry washes; this is also true for butterflies that live in the canyon areas.

Home range and territoriality
Lycaena heteronea males are always patrolling between flower heads of their Eriogonum food plants.  Males are also known to perch on these food plants.  Females are not territorial, they are more worried with finding proper host plants for the larvae.  Males on the other hand are the complete opposite.  They are extremely territorial with conspecific males.  It is due to the fact that they want to increase their chance of copulating with females.  When other species come in contact with the blue copper, they are completely ignored.  Even butterflies that look extremely similar to male blue coppers are ignored.  This is most likely due to the fact that males’ main objective is to mate with females and other species do not provide much of a hindrance in that goal.  Also, males have a visual sensor that turns on when conspecific males are around.

Food resources

Caterpillars
Caterpillars do not have a wide selection of plants that they can rely on.  They use buckwheat, Eriogonum, species as the hostplant for food.  There are typically three different plants within the species that the caterpillars eat from.  When caterpillars first hatch they eat form the underside of the plant.  As the caterpillar gets older in age, it eats the whole of the leaf.

Adults
Adults on the other hand, have a large range in the plants that they can eat from. These plants include buckwheat and its subspecies.  The butterflies eat from green rabbitbrush, Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus, asters, yarren, and gaillardia.  Blue coppers can also eat from fiddleneck, wallflower, and milkweed.  This large diet allows the males to actively search for and defend their territory.

Parental care
Females are the ones that care for the offspring.  They lay their eggs on Eriogonum umbellatum and E. umbellatum var. majus. These are subspecies of the buckwheat plant.  Where the females lay their eggs impacts the survival of the offspring, so the females are looking for plants that are the best quality. Females are usually found in the immediate vicinity of larval food plants. Blue coppers are single brooded and females can lay dozens of eggs in a single sitting.

Life history

Egg
Eggs are laid one at a time on bracts, modified leaves, underneath the host plant. The eggs are round and appear flattened.  Eggs begin hatching in the following spring.

Caterpillar
After hatching the caterpillar starts eating the underneath of the hostplant, wild buckwheat.  As the caterpillar gets older it eats all parts of the leaf.  Blue copper larvae are shaped like sowbugs or woodlouses.  This species of caterpillar can come in colors ranging from dull blue to green, which allow it to blend in with its surroundings and increase its chance of survival. Depending on where it is some larvae have either a light yellow or white lateral line. Their heads come in a brownish color, also. The caterpillar goes through four instars before pupating.

Pupa
The pupa is green with different shades of green on the outside.  On the dorsal side of the pupa there is a green line with lateral markings of green.  This green coloration allows the pupa to blend in with its surrounding and increase its survivability.

Adult
After emerging from the chrysalis, females begin their search for quality host plant for larvae. Males begin their search for females to mate with.

Migration
Blue coppers are not known to migrate due to the fact that their climate does not adversely change.  However, they can fly up to one kilometer in distance.

Enemies
There are no known enemies of the blue copper.  However, that does not take away from the fact that in certain parts of California the species is declining.  Blue coppers are decreasing in California due to the rise of forest fires.  The fires are burning down the trees in the open forest where these butterflies reside.

Mating
Males are actively searching for females by flying to where they are. Females tend to be next to the larval hostplant because they are ovipositing.  Virgin females accept males based on their wing color.  The cycle of mating works like this: while the females are coming out of their pupas they release a pheromone that attracts males to come towards them.  When the males come they like to show the females their wing colors.  Females then choose who has the best wing coloration.  One of the reason why males are very territorial is because they are trying to be the first male butterfly that the females sees, in order to increase their mating success.

Mutualism
Some larvae that live in California are facultatively myrmecophilous, where they are reportedly tended by Formica francoeuri Bolton, a species formerly known as F. pilicornis Emery.  How this relationship works is that the species takes care of the larvae when needed.

Conservation
Blue coppers have the ranking of G5 according to The Nature Conservancy Global Rank.  This ranking means that the blue copper is abundant and a secure species.  Also, that it may be rare in certain parts of its range.  In southern California, the blue copper has a ranking of The Nature Conservancy rank of T2, which means that it is at risk of being harmed and/or destroyed because of its rare occurrences.  Another reason the butterfly has that ranking in California is because other factors, such as forest fires and deforestation, are making them vulnerable, so vulnerable that it could become extinct.

References

Further reading

External links
http://www.bentler.us/eastern-washington/animals/insects/butterflies/blue-copper-butterfly.aspx
https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Lycaena-heteronea
http://www.cbif.gc.ca/eng/species-bank/butterflies-of-canada/blue-copper/?id=1370403265552
http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/efauna/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Lycaena%20heteronea

Category:Lycaena
Category:Butterflies of North America
Category:Butterflies described in 1852
Category:Taxa named by Jean Baptiste Boisduval