Pollinator
American copper
Lycaena phlaeas
A small, feisty butterfly that glows like burnished copper.
- Family
- Lycaenidae (gossamer-wings)
- Wingspan
- 0.9 to 1.4 in (2.4 to 3.5 cm)
- Flight season
- Spring to fall (several broods)
- Range
- Northeastern North America
- Caterpillar food
- Sheep sorrel and docks
- Conservation
- Secure and widespread
Bright and pugnacious, the American copper glows orange with black spots on the forewing and a coppery band on the hindwing. It is a small butterfly of open, disturbed ground.
Males are famously feisty, darting out from a perch to chase anything that passes. It flies in several broods through the warm months.
Caterpillars feed on sheep sorrel and other docks, low plants of fields and roadsides.
Plants for the american copper
35 native plants with documented flower-visit records. Narrow with the filters below.
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No plants match those filters.
Sources
- Butterflies and Moths of North America ↗
- iNaturalist ↗
- Plant associations from GloBI flower-visit records and NPIN larval-host data. Butterfly photographs via iNaturalist (CC BY).