Icaricia lupini
| Lupine blue | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Lycaenidae |
| Genus: | Icaricia |
| Species: | I. lupini |
| Binomial name | |
| Icaricia lupini (Boisduval, 1869) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Icaricia lupini, the lupine blue, is a species of butterfly in the subfamily Polyommatinae of the family Lycaenidae.[1][2][3][4] It is found from south-western Canada, south through much of mountainous and intermountain western United States and high plains to northern Mexico.
Description
The wingspan ranges from 17–29 mm across various sources.[1][3][5][6]
Life history & ecology
The eggs are laid on or near the flowers of their host plants, which the larvae proceed to eat the fruits, flowers, seeds, and leaves of; despite their common name, their host plants are buckwheat species in the genus Eriogonum, such as Eriogonum umbellatum and Eriogonum fasciculatum.[1][3][5][7] They survive winter by undergoing hibernal diapause in the L2 instar.[1][3][5][6][8]
Adults feed on the flower nectar of several genera, including their buckwheat hosts, composites, and onions.[1][5][7] Across most of its range, there are several generations of adults from March to July.[1][3][5] Adults are on wing in one generation from June to August in the Sierra Nevada of eastern California, June to July on the Canadian Prairies, May to August in British Columbia, May to September in Colorado, and from May to August in Washington and Oregon.[1][3][5][6]
Subspecies
More recent taxonomic treatments include the following subspecies:[9][10][2]
- Icaricia lupini lupini (California)
- Icaricia lupini texanus (Arizona)
- Icaricia lupini lutzi
- Icaricia lupini spangelatus
- Icaricia lupini alpicola
- Icaricia lupini goodpasturei
Formerly included as subspecies, Icaricia monticola, Icaricia dedeckera, and Icaricia chlorina are more recently thought to be their own species, with Icaricia lupini argentata now considered a subspecies of I. chlorina.[10][2] I. l. alpicola may also be its own species.[10]
External links
Media related to Icaricia lupini at Wikimedia Commons
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Lupine Blue Plebejus lupini (Boisduval, 1869)". Butterflies and Moths of North America. Retrieved July 4, 2026.
- 1 2 3 Pelham, Jonathan P. (February 23, 2023). "A catalogue of the butterflies of the United States and Canada". Butterflies of America. Entry 604. Retrieved July 4, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mcleod, Robin; Nanz, Steve (July 3, 2017). "Species Plebejus lupini - Lupine Blue - Hodges#4381". BugGuide. Retrieved July 4, 2026.
- ↑ Shropshire, Kimberley J.; Tallamy, Douglas W. (November 26, 2025). "Lepidoptera of North America, north of Mexico: an annotated list containing geographic ranges and host-plant records". ZooKeys (1261): 101–113. Bibcode:2025ZooK.1261..101S. doi:10.3897/zookeys.1261.160796. PMC 12676573. PMID 41357956.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Lupine Blue- Icaricia lupini". Montana Field Guide. Retrieved July 4, 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Lupine Blue". Toronto Entomologists' Association. Retrieved July 4, 2026.
- 1 2 "Icaricia lupini". NatureServe Explorer. July 2, 2026. Retrieved July 4, 2026.
- ↑ Scott, James A. (1981). "Hibernal Diapause of North American Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea". The Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera. 18 (3): 171–200. doi:10.5962/p.266881. ISSN 0022-4324. LCCN sc80000987. OCLC 1754781 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- ↑ "Icaricia lupini thumbnails". Butterflies of America. 2024-03-09. Retrieved July 4, 2026.
- 1 2 3 Davenport, Ken (April 20, 2018). "Butterflies of southern California in 2018: updating Emmel and Emmel's 1973 Butterflies of southern California". Lepidoptera of North America (15). C.P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity: 109–113. hdl:10217/187314. ISSN 1084-8819 – via Mountain Scholar.