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.
Comments: NULL
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Verified Sightings
Displaying 289 - 312 of 398 verified sightings
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Region: San Bernardino County, California, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: Rio Grande County, Colorado, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: Lake County, Oregon, United States
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Region: Shasta County, California, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: Baja California, Mexico
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: Daggett County, Utah, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: Alameda County, California, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: Tulare County, California, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: Mora County, New Mexico, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: San Juan County, Utah, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: Butte County, California, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: Yolo County, California, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: Cibola County, New Mexico, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: Washington County, Utah, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: Inyo County, California, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: Dolores County, Colorado, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: Storey County, Nevada, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Submitted by: legacy.reporter
Region: Wayne County, Utah, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: Mariposa County, California, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: Huerfano County, Colorado, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: Eureka County, Nevada, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: Orange County, California, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Region: Montezuma County, Colorado, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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Submitted by: legacy.reporter
Region: Douglas County, Oregon, United States
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Verified date: Dec 31, 2004
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