Pacific Dotted Blue
Euphilotes enoptes
Size: Up to 0.85 inch wingspan
Key ID features: Small. Male blue above with dark wing borders. Female dark brown above with vague orange zigzag along trailing margin. Both sexes have checked fringe on FW. Below bluish-gray with black spots, and orange edges to submarginal black spots on HW.
Similar species: Best told from other Euphilotes blues by host-plant association, location and flight period.
Host plant: Eriogonum nudum (bare-stem buckwheat), E. elatum (tall woolly buckwheat) and E. compositum (arrowleaf buckwheat).
Habitat: Well-drained sites where hostplant grows, including high plateaus, ridges, gravelly slopes and roadsides.
Range: Western Cascade Range, Siskiyou Mtns, Klamath Mtns.
Season: Mid-April to early August
Abundance: Common
Conservation Status: Secure