Gorgon copper ~ 06/05/14 ~ Chews Ridge

female Gorgon copper

Lycaena gorgon
(Shapiro and Tenney)

They're all look-alikes!  Heavy sigh.  At first, I confused the female Boisduval's blue with the Gorgon copper with that split orange couplet dotting towards the butt when their wings are held at rest above their body.  Now that I'm looking at this picture, there's a definite chalky white that I've also noticed in the great copper and is totally absent in all the blues I've seen so far.  Also, I think I might get the topside female with its golden-hued window panes mixed up with the similarly looking tailed-copper.  I have yet to get a good look at females topside in-person, because I didn't bother this one too much except to take its picture.  She looks heavy with eggs and lots of fat.  In flight, the boys flash a beautiful alternating leathery brown with white, only a couple feet off the ground.  They're quite distinctive.

tailed copper ~ 06/03/14 ~ Pinnacles

tailed copper

Lycaena arota

(Shapiro and Tenney)

For such a plain Jane name, this tailed copper really packs a beautiful design punch in such a small package.  It was surprisingly quick, and I only managed 2 photos before it took flight.  I believe this was a male, if I recall the solid topside leather brown color correctly.  The female topsides have golden-hued window panes that seem to glow in a classic butterfly pattern.  I read their caterpillars eat gooseberry.  And, once again, that's CA buckwheat serving up tasty butterfly energy drinks.

great copper ~ 05/27/14 ~ Pinnacles

great copper on curly dock

Lycaena xanthoides on Rumex crispus

 Polygonaceae

I will never malign curly dock again!  Surprisingly, this invasive weed is the common host plant for this remarkably large copper.  This butterfly is easy to spot with its bright chalky white.  And the topside isn't exactly copper, but more of a moth brown.  In flight, I mainly see the flash of white, because the brown just looks like shadow.  I believe this is a boy staking his claim to this perch of curly dock, because he repeatedly came back to this exact spot after chasing flirty wings.

lustrous copper ~ 05/14/13 ~ Lang Crossing

lustrous copper

Lycaena cupreus

male lustrous copper and male greenish blue nectaring on American yellowrocket

Lycaena cupreus and male Plebejus saepiolus nectaring on Barbarea orthoceras

Brassicaceae

Dr. Shapiro sent me a list of butterflies he recorded for Lang Crossing 3 days before our excursion.  I was very disappointed to discover I wouldn't see the gorgeous lustrous copper at Washington and told Art as much.  So, late in the afternoon, parched from the extremely warm day, as the shadows filled in the primo butterfly hangouts, we faced a dilemma: go straight to the Washington Hotel for some much needed liquid refreshment and call it a day, or go 10 miles up the road for me to see my first ever Lycaena cupreus at Lang.  It was Art's wife who suggested doing both, but only after making him guarantee that I would see a copper butterfly.  That guarantee looked like it was going to be a bust, because we failed to find any coppers at the spot Dr. Shapiro saw them previously.  Fortunately, in a moist meadow across the river, we hit the coppery mother lode.  I have so many pictures of this wildly, brilliantly, bold butterfly, including the last one above where a greenish blue wanted to get in on the photo shoot action. Tired as I was, I was extremely glad we made the extra hour and a half round-trip.

Some additional notes - If I hadn't known what to look for, I could have easily brushed off the resting butterfly in the second picture as the more-familiar-to-me acmon blue, with only the underside of the hindwings showing.  It's easy to distinguish when they're flashing their brilliant copper tops or are still in a photograph, but from a distance and hiding in real life, it's not so easy.

There's some question how the lustrous copper larvae feed primarily on the moderately invasive sheep sorrel.  With all the recent heavy bashing of non-native plants [I'm a believer in if it's alive, then why kill it?  Unless it's doing great harm to others, our ever-changing opinions should not be the sole reason for death, which extends to humans and wars.], it's interesting to note that some native butterflies have taken to them and likely depend on them for their survival.  Or do they?  Art wonders if our local sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella) has been incorrectly deemed an Old World species, and could be found native through genetics techniques.  Hmm?

What tripped me up throughout the day was mistaking the blue moth (Caenurgina caerulea) for one of the blue butterflies.  Now that I looked it up, it doesn't look blue at all.  Weird.  And finally, I would have had a difficult time figuring out which fuzzy blue butterfly is in the last picture, not to mention yellow mustard-looking plant, if it wasn't for Art's continuing patient guidance via e-mail. Thanks, Dr. Shapiro!

Gorgon copper ~ 05/28/09 ~ Los Padres

Gorgon copper butterfly
Lycaena gorgon
Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae > Lycaeninae

I'm basing this ID on the HW submarginal red-orange band of separated spots.