Pollinator
Marine blue
Leptotes marina
A small striped blue of the Southwest, banded like a zebra below.
- Family
- Lycaenidae (gossamer-wings)
- Wingspan
- 0.75 to 1.1 in (2 to 2.9 cm)
- Flight season
- Much of the year in the South
- Range
- Southwestern and southern United States
- Caterpillar food
- Legume flowers and leadwort
- Conservation
- Secure and widespread
The marine blue is a small butterfly, lavender-blue above and, below, finely banded in brown and white like a tiny zebra. It is common across the Southwest.
It flies through much of the year and wanders north, a frequent visitor to gardens and fields.
Caterpillars feed on the flowers of legumes and leadwort.
Plants for the marine blue
3 caterpillar host plants and 19 documented nectar plants. Pick a role, then narrow with the filters below.
22 plants
Nectar
1 of 3 Firewheel Gaillardia pulchella Host
1 of 2 American wisteria Wisteria frutescens Nectar
1 of 2 Autumn sage Salvia greggii Nectar
1 of 2 Great blue lobelia Lobelia siphilitica Nectar
Coyote brush Baccharis pilularis Nectar
1 of 2 False indigo bush Amorpha fruticosa Nectar
1 of 2 Spreading dogbane Apocynum androsaemifolium Nectar
Hollyleaf cherry Prunus ilicifolia Nectar
1 of 3 Upright prairie coneflower Ratibida columnifera Nectar
Apricot globemallow Sphaeralcea ambigua Nectar
1 of 2 Elegant Clarkia Clarkia unguiculata Nectar
Wyoming Paintbrush Castilleja linariifolia Nectar
1 of 2 Sulfur buckwheat Eriogonum umbellatum Nectar
1 of 3 Sticky geranium Geranium viscosissimum Nectar
1 of 2 Rocky Mountain zinnia Zinnia grandiflora Host
1 of 3 Canadian milkvetch Astragalus canadensis Nectar
1 of 2 Miniature Lupine Lupinus bicolor Nectar
1 of 2 Engelmann daisy Engelmannia peristenia Nectar
1 of 3 Scarlet bugler Penstemon centranthifolius Nectar
Slender sunflower Helianthus gracilentus Host
Roundhead Prairie Clover Dalea multiflora Nectar
Felt Paintbrush Castilleja foliolosa
1 of 31 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 21 of 31 of 21 of 21 of 31 of 21 of 31 of 21 of 21 of 3No 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).