Shasta blue

Shasta blue
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Genus: Icaricia
Species:
I. shasta
Binomial name
Icaricia shasta
(W.H. Edwards, 1862)
Synonyms
  • Lycaena shasta W.H. Edwards, 1862
  • Lycaena zelmira C. & R. Felder, [1865]
  • Lycaena calchas Behr, 1867
  • Rusticus shasta (W.H. Edwards, 1862)
  • Aricia shasta (W.H. Edwards, 1862)
  • Lycaeides shasta (W.H. Edwards, 1862)
  • Plebejus shasta (W.H. Edwards, 1862)

Icaricia shasta, the Shasta blue,[1] is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found from the northwestern United States to southern Saskatchewan and Alberta.[2]

The wingspan is 20–22 mm. Adults are on wing from June to August.[2]

The larvae feed on Lupinus lyalli, Astragalus spatulatus, Astragalus calycosus, and Trifolium dasphyllum.[3]

Subspecies

There are six subspecies of Icaricia shasta. (Note, or seven in older schemes [1])

  • I. s. calchas (Behr, 1867)
  • I. s. charlestonensis (Austin, 1980)
  • I. s. minnehaha (Scudder, 1874)
  • I. s. pallidissima Austin in T. Emmel, 1998
  • I. s. pitkinensis (Ferris, 1976)
  • I. s. shasta (W.H. Edwards, 1862)

See also

  • I. s. platazul Scott, 2006, later treated as a junior subjective synonym of I. s. minnehaha (Scudder, 1874) per Pelham, 2023 (online catalog)

References

  1. 1 2 "Plebejus shasta Standard Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  2. 1 2 Shasta Blue, Butterflies of Canada
  3. ↑ Aricia at Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.