Attributes of Lycaena arota
Tailed Copper
Lycaena arota (Boisduval, 1852)
Family: Lycaenidae
Subfamily: Lycaeninae
Identification: Each hindwing of both sexes has a tail. Upper surface of male copper-brown with iridescent purple sheen; female with orange and dark brown pattern. Underside of both sexes gray; forewing with black spots, hindwing with black scrawls and a band of submarginal white crescents.
Wing Span: 1 1/8 - 1 3/8 inches (3 - 3.5 cm).
Life History: Males perch in open areas, often near watercourses or ravines, in the morning to watch for females. Eggs are laid singly on host plant or on debris under it, and hibernate until the following spring. Caterpillars eat leaves.
Flight: One flight from May-August.
Caterpillar Hosts: Leaves of gooseberry and currant (Ribes species) in the Grossulariaceae family.
Adult Food: Flower nectar.
Habitat: Open mixed woodland, sagebrush, chaparral.
Range: New Mexico north and west to Oregon, south to southern California and Baja California.
Conservation: Clouded copper, subspecies nubila, has greatly declined in the vicinity of Los Angeles, California. Lycaena arota nubila has The Nature Conservancy rank of T1 - Critically imperiled because of extreme rarity (5 or fewer occurrences, or very few remaining individuals), or because of some factor of its biology making it especially vulnerable to extinction. (Critically endangered throughout its range).
NCGR:
Management Needs: Conserve remaining habitat of clouded copper. Consider habitat rehabilitation and reintroduction.
Taxonomy Notes:
Images of Lycaena arota
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The map below displays all verified sighting records in the BAMONA database for this species. Each record is indicated with a yellow dot. The orange dots on the map provide access to information about the 400 most recently verified sightings of this species. In some instances, there are several records at the same location. Use the table view to access these records.
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The fifty most recently verified sightings are below. See more recently verified sightings of all species.
| Observation Date | Submitter | Region |
Verified Date |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Coconino County, Arizona, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Apache County, Arizona, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Alameda County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Alpine County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Amador County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Butte County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Calaveras County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Colusa County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Contra Costa County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Del Norte County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | El Dorado County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Fresno County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Humboldt County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Inyo County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Kern County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Kings County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Lake County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Lassen County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Los Angeles County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Madera County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Marin County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Mariposa County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Mendocino County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Merced County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Modoc County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Mono County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Monterey County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Napa County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Nevada County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Orange County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Placer County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Plumas County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Riverside County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | San Benito County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | San Bernardino County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | San Diego County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | San Francisco County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | San Luis Obispo County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | San Mateo County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Santa Barbara County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Santa Clara County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Santa Cruz County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Shasta County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Sierra County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Siskiyou County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Solano County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Sonoma County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Stanislaus County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Tehama County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details | |
| January 01, 1950 | legacy.reporter | Trinity County, California, United States | December 31, 2004 | Details |
