Silvery Blue
Glaucopsyche lygdamus (Doubleday, 1841)
Family: Lycaenidae
Subfamily: Polyommatinae
Identification: Upperside of male iridescent silvery blue with narrow dark borders; female darker blue with wide borders. Both sexes have white fringe. Underside gray-brown; both wings with row of white-ringed, round black spots. Subspecies xerces (Boisduval) and pseudoxerces Emmel and Emmel have large white spots with or without black centers.
Wing Span: 7/8 - 1 1/4 inches (2.2 - 3.2 cm).
Life History: Males patrol near the host plants for females. Eggs are laid singly on flower buds and young leaves of the host plants. Caterpillars feed on flowers, seedpods, and young leaves and are tended by ants. Chrysalids hibernate.
Flight: One flight from March-June at low elevations, June-August at high elevations.
Caterpillar Hosts: Astragalus, Lotus, Lupinus, Melilotus, Oxytropis, Lathyrus, Vicia, and other species in the pea family.
Adult Food: Nectar from flowers including Asteraceae.
Habitat: A variety of locations including open woods, coastal dunes, prairies, meadows, road edges, rocky moist woods, and brushy fields.
Range: Central Alaska south to southern California, Baja California, Arizona, New Mexico, and western Kansas. Along northern United States east to Nova Scotia and south to Georgia.
Conservation: Subspecies palosverdesensis is thought to be extinct. Its historic range and its hostplant Astragalus leucopsis in the Palos Verdes Hills in Los Angeles County, California is largely extirpated, but an additional population was discovered in nearby San Pedro. This subspecies has The Nature Conservancy rank of T1 - Critically imperiled globally 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). Subspecies xerces is TX - Presumed extinct. Subspecies pseudoxerces is rank T2.
NCGR:
Management Needs: Conserve all remaining habitat for the Palos Verdes Blue. Investigate status and conservation needs of subspecies pseudoxerces.
Comments: NULL
Verified Sightings
Displaying 1 - 24 of 2661 verified sightings
Observation date: May 12, 2022
Submitted by: stevecary
Region:
Verified by: stevecary
Verified date: Dec 24, 2022
Observation date: May 12, 2022
Submitted by: stevecary
Region: Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States
Verified by: stevecary
Verified date: Dec 24, 2022
Observation date: May 17, 2020
Submitted by: Robb Hannawacker
Region: San Juan County, Utah, United States
Verified by: RaisingButterfl...
Verified date: Dec 15, 2022
Observation date: Jun 21, 2019
Submitted by: Liz Osborn
Region: British Columbia, Canada
Verified by: Paul Prappas
Verified date: Sep 23, 2022
Observation date: May 29, 2019
Submitted by: Karlissa J
Region: British Columbia, Canada
Verified by: Paul Prappas
Verified date: Sep 23, 2022
Observation date: Jun 11, 2019
Submitted by: Liz Osborn
Region: British Columbia, Canada
Verified by: Paul Prappas
Verified date: Sep 16, 2022
Observation date: Jun 14, 2019
Submitted by: Liz Osborn
Region: British Columbia, Canada
Verified by: Paul Prappas
Verified date: Sep 16, 2022
Observation date: Jun 19, 2019
Submitted by: Liz Osborn
Region: British Columbia, Canada
Verified by: Paul Prappas
Verified date: Sep 16, 2022
Observation date: Jul 07, 2019
Submitted by: Liz Osborn
Region: British Columbia, Canada
Verified by: Paul Prappas
Verified date: Sep 14, 2022
Observation date: May 12, 2019
Submitted by: Claire Christensen
Region: British Columbia, Canada
Verified by: Paul Prappas
Verified date: Sep 14, 2022
Observation date: Jun 21, 2019
Submitted by: Reiner Jakubowski
Region: British Columbia, Canada
Verified by: Paul Prappas
Verified date: Sep 13, 2022
Observation date: May 23, 2020
Submitted by: Claire Christensen
Region: British Columbia, Canada
Verified by: Paul Prappas
Verified date: Sep 10, 2022
Observation date: May 14, 2020
Submitted by: Claire Christensen
Region: British Columbia, Canada
Verified by: Paul Prappas
Verified date: Sep 10, 2022
Observation date: May 14, 2020
Submitted by: Claire Christensen
Region: British Columbia, Canada
Verified by: Paul Prappas
Verified date: Sep 10, 2022
Observation date: Apr 21, 2021
Submitted by: ICan'tBelieveIt...
Region: British Columbia, Canada
Verified by: Paul Prappas
Verified date: Sep 10, 2022
Observation date: Jul 15, 2020
Submitted by: jrmbutterfly
Region: British Columbia, Canada
Verified by: Paul Prappas
Verified date: Sep 10, 2022
Observation date: Jun 12, 2021
Submitted by: jrmbutterfly
Region: British Columbia, Canada
Verified by: Paul Prappas
Verified date: Sep 10, 2022
Observation date: Aug 11, 2022
Submitted by: hiker96
Region: Washington, United States
Verified by: davidwdroppers
Verified date: Aug 13, 2022
Observation date: Jul 15, 2022
Submitted by: John Gibbons
Region: Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Verified by: jmgesell
Verified date: Aug 08, 2022
Observation date: Jun 12, 2012
Submitted by: ncrosbyrd
Region: Kidder County, North Dakota, United States
Verified by: James Steen
Verified date: Aug 04, 2022
Observation date: May 27, 2017
Submitted by: Erin13
Region: Ward County, North Dakota, United States
Verified by: James Steen
Verified date: Aug 04, 2022
Observation date: Jul 19, 2022
Submitted by: MikeandShelley
Region: Pierce County, Washington, United States
Verified by: davidwdroppers
Verified date: Jul 25, 2022
Observation date: May 27, 2022
Submitted by: hasfitz5
Region: White Pine County, Nevada, United States
Verified by: Ken Davenport
Verified date: Jul 23, 2022
Observation date: Jun 26, 2022
Submitted by: NikkiM
Region: Carbon County, Montana, United States
Verified by: J_Martineau
Verified date: Jul 23, 2022
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