Photos, flight season, distribution and host plant information, conservation status, and identification tips for the Ruddy Copper butterfly. Gallery Prev Next Williams Prairie, Crook Co, July 26 - male Ruddy Copper Tharsalea rubidus AKA Lycaena rubidus Size: 1.1 - 1.25 inches wingspan Key ID features: Male above very bright coppery orange, with few small dark spots . Female above brownish gray orange with black spots, and submarginal spot band, often with orange submarginal zigzag line. Female HW below white with orange wash with very light spots; FW below light orange with black spots. Male similar below with lighter ground color. Similar species: No other Oregon butterfly is as bright orange as the male. Female somewhat similar to Blue Copper, which lacks the orange zigzag above and the orange wash below. Host plant: Dock (Rumex ) species. Habitat: Riparian habitast (near water), including wet montane meadows. Range: Southeastern Oregon, and east of Cascade Mtns from Ochoco Mtns south. Season: Mid-May to late August Abundance: Common Conservation Status: Secure

Photos, flight season, distribution and host plant information, conservation status, and identification tips for the Behr's Hairstreak butterfly. Gallery Prev Next Sand Creek, Klamath Co, July 1 Behr's Hairstreak Satyrium behrii Size: 0.8 - 1.0 inches wingspan Key ID features: Both sexes orange-brown above. Below, gray-brown with white edged black markings against gray on HW. FW below mousy brown with small submarginal spot bands. Very short stubby tails or no tails. Similar species: May be confused with a Hedgerow HS, which has more prominent, white-tipped tails, with an adjacent blue patch and a darker brown ground color. Host plant: Antelope bitterbrush (Purshiana tridentata ) . Habitat: Shrub-steppe, canyons, riparian areas, canyons, oak-pine forests. Range: Siskiyou Mtns, east slope of Cascades, and most of Oregon east of the Cascades except for Blue Mtns. Season: Early May to early September Abundance: Common Conservation Status: Secure

Photos, flight season, distribution and host plant information, conservation status, and identification tips for the American Copper butterfly. Gallery Prev Next Oregon State Arthropod Collection #0000819569 - male Thank you to Dana Ross and Paul Hammond , volunteers at OSAC! American Copper Lycaena hypophlaeas Size: 0.75- 1.25 inches wingspan Key ID features: Above FW coppery orange with black spots and dark brown borders. Above HW gray-brown with wide orange band along most of trailing margin. Below HW gray with black spots, orange wavy submarginal line. Similar species: Upperside is unlike any other copper. Separated from Purplish Copper by location and habitat. Host plant: Suspected to be Mountain Sorrel (Oxyria digyna) . Habitat: Steep high-elevation talus slopes. Range: High peaks in the Wallowa Mtns. Season: Mid-August to mid-September Abundance: Uncommon Conservation Status: Secure

Photos, flight season, distribution and host plant information, conservation status, and identification tips for the Boiduval's Blue butterfly. Gallery Prev Next Catherine Cr Rd, Wallowa Co, July 8 Boisduval's Blue Icaricia icarioides Size: 1.0 - 1.5 inch wingspan Key ID features: Male bright blue above with charcoal wing borders. Female brown above with orange-brown highlights on FW, often with blue shading basally and vague or no orange band along trailing margin of HW. Both sexes may have dark cell end bars on FW. Male blue-gray below with very small black spots with wide white halos and marginal row of small black triangles. Female below brownish-gray with similar spot pattern. Similar species: Separated from Greenish blues by tiny black spots below having broad white halos, especially on the hindwing, and lack of orange edged triangles at anal angle. Host plant: Many lupine species (Lupinus ) . Fender's Blue subspecies uses Kincaid's Lupine (Lupinus oreganus var. kincaidii ). Habitat: Mountain meadows and roadsides, subalpine slopes, and occasionally lower elevation meadows (Fender's), always near lupines. Range: All of eastern Oregon, plus central Coast Range, and southern Willamette Valley (ssp. I.i. fenderi ) . Season: Late May to early July Abundance: Common east of Cascade Range, locally common at scattered sites in Willamette Valley. Conservation Status: Fender's Blue listed as Endangered federally.

Photos, flight season, distribution and host plant information, conservation status, and identification tips for the Sierra Nevada Blue butterfly. Gallery Prev Next Bradley Lake Meadows, Douglas Co, July 13 - male Sierra Nevada Blue Agriades podarce AKA Sierra Blue Size: 1.0 - 1.2 inch wingspan Key ID features: Male dusky gray-blue to sky blue above, dark gray wing borders with white fringes, black cell end bars (FW), and white circles with black centers along trailing margin. Female mostly gray to gray-brown above, with prominent FW cell end bar and light blue-gray circles with dark centers along trailing margin. Below FW and HW have black spots ringed with white, and submarginal row of black checks or chevrons rimmed in white against brown or gray-brown background, with marginal row of black spots rimmed with white. Similar species: Arctic Blue has white patches against dark gray background on HW below, and may or may not still exist in Oregon. Host plant: Likely to be Shooting Stars (Dodecatheon aplinum and D. jeffreyi ) . Habitat: Moist meadows above 5,000 feet. Range: Along the crest of the southern Cascades, along the western border of Klamath County. Season: Late June to early August Abundance: Uncommon Conservation Status: Secure

Photos, flight season, distribution and host plant information, conservation status, and identification tips for the Spring White butterfly. Gallery Prev Next Dutchman's Peak, Jackson Co, July 15 Spring White Pontia sisymbrii Size: 1.25 - 1.5 inches wingspan Key ID features: Above, male milk-white, female cream to yellowish, both with black checks on wingtips and closed black bar at end of forewing cell. Below, hindwing veins crisply lined with brownish back bars, partially interrupted across the middle. Similar species: Western white has FW cell end bar with white center, and below HW veins less boldly shaded, and lacks slightly interrupted band across veins. Host plant: Wide variety of rockcresses and mustards. Habitat: Rocky desert-steppe, sage lands, subalpine ridges in the Cascades. Range: Throughout eastern Oregon east of the Cascades and in southern Josephine and Jackson counties. Season: Late March to late August Abundance: Widespread, but locally distributed, often seen singly. Conservation Status: Secure

Directory with photos and links for all of Oregon's butterflies in the skipper family.

Photos, flight season, distribution and host plant information, conservation status, and identification tips for Small Wood Nymph. Gallery Prev Next Newberry Caldera, Deschutes Co, July 16 Small Wood Nymph Cercyonis oetus AKA Dark Wood Nymph Size: Up to 1.75 inch wingspan Key ID features: Above gray-brown with one or two eye spots on FW. Below, striated brown with one to several small eyespots on HW, two eyespots on FW upper one usually much larger than lower, lower spot closer to wing margin than upper, lower spot sometimes missing. Dark median line on HW erratically jagged--much more so than on other Wood Nymphs in our area. Similar species: Great Basin Wood Nymph is larger, has more prominent bands below, lower eyespot only slightly smaller than upper, HW median line less jagged. Sylvan Wood Nymph plainer, with HW median line less jagged. Host plant: Undetermined grass species . Habitat: Grassy habitats including sage-steppe, plateaus, montane meadows and dry hillsides. Range: Eastern Oregon. Season: Late May to late September Abundance: Common Conservation Status: Secure

Photos, flight season, distribution and host plant information, conservation status, and identification tips for the Field Crescent butterfly. Gallery Prev Next Ditch Cr, Morrow Co, September 5 - male Field Crescent Phyciodes pulchella Size: Up to 1 inch wingspan Key ID features: Male above, dark overall, with orange and light orange spots surrounded by black, HW with submarginal band of small black dots circled with orange. Male HW below cream, tan and brown bands and patches, and inconspicuous marginal crescent below midpoint. Female with larger orange and yellow spots, with a near rectangular pale orange vertical bar in FW cell, at leading margin. Female below white with brown patches and irregular red-brown lines, bright submarginal white crescent with brown on both sides. Similar species: Female Northern Crescent lacks light bar in cell at leading edge of FW above. California Crescent has slight indent in FW margin. Host plant: Aster species, including western showy aster (Eurybia conspicua ) and Cascade aster (Eucephalus ledophyllus ) . Habitat: Mountain meadows, seeps, roadsides, forest edges, lowland prairies. Range: Willamette Vallley, Cascade Range, Siskiyou and Klamath Mtns, Steens Mtn, Ochocos, Wallowa Mtns and Blue Mtns. Season: Mid-May to late September Abundance: Common Conservation Status: Secure

Photos, flight season, distribution and host plant information, conservation status, and identification tips for the California Tortoiseshell butterfly. Gallery Prev Next Buford Park, Lane Co, June 2 California Tortoiseshell Nymphalis californica Size: Up to 2.5 inch wingspan Key ID features: Above bright orange with black and white patches on the leading edge of FW, a few smaller black spots on FW, and dark border on FW and HW. Below striated two-toned with darker inner half and brown outer half with darker margin, and often a dark gray-blue submarginal line. Similar species: Above, Milbert's dark basally with bright orange rim. Below, Milbert's Tortoiseshell more distinctly two-toned, outer band lighter, more variable and more gray than brown. Host plant: Ceanothus species include snowbrush (C. velutinus ), deerbrush (C. integerrimus ) . Habitat: While dispersing, may be found in any habitat, including in the middle of urban areas. Otherwise in mountain slopes, canyons, meadows, riversides, road edges and shorelines. Range: Throughout Oregon . Season: Late January to early December. Abundance: Common, abundant in some years. Conservation Status: Secure

Photos, flight season, distribution and host plant information, conservation status, and identification tips for the Silver-Bordered Fritillary butterfly. Gallery Prev Next Williams Prairie, Crook Co, June 22 Silver-Bordered Fritillary Boloria myrina ( Was Boloria selene) Size: Up to 2 inch wingspan Key ID features: Above bright citrus orange with black veins, and black irregular lines, black bands of spots and chevrons that point inward. Checked fringe, light orange. Below HW is complex pattern of pearly silver/white patches, cream patches, burgundy patches and burgundy veins. Similar pattern on FW tip below, remainder of FW bright orange with black markings. Similar species: Pacific Fritillary has softer black submarginal markings above, and submarginal black triangles that point outward. Below Pacific has softer pattern of mauve, lavender and pale orange in the outer half of HW. Host plant: Violets, mostly Viola palustris (Marsh violet) and V. nephrophylla (Bog violet). Habitat: Marshy fields, riparian areas with willows. Range: Found in isolated colonies in Ochoco Mtns, Strawberry Mts, Wallowa Mtns. Season: Late May to mid-August (varies by site) Abundance: Locally common Conservation Status: Secure .

Photos, flight season, distribution and host plant information, conservation status, and identification tips for the Gorgon Copper butterfly. Gallery Prev Next Mt. Ashland Rd, Jackson Co, July 15 Gorgon Copper Tharsalea gorgon AKA Lycaena gorgon Size: 1.25 - 1.5 inches wingspan Key ID features: Male above coppery orange, with not spots, with purple irridescence when fresh. Female above light coppery orange with black spots, crescents and margins. Below HW grayish white with black spots, and submarginal row of black chevrons with orange borders. Similar species: Ground color of Great Copper above is more gray; below Great Copper lacks band of chevrons with orange borders below. Edith's is smaller and has brown spots below. Purplish Copper is smaller and has fewer and smaller black spots below. Host plant: Eriogonum nudum (bare-stemmed buckwheat). Habitat: Meadows, open areas along streams, roadsides. Range: Found in Siskiyou Mtns, Klamath Mtns, and Warner Mtns. Season: Late May to mid-August Abundance: Common Conservation Status: Secure