Lycaena dione

Lycaena dione, the grey copper or great copper, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found from the southern Prairie provinces of Canada and western Ontario south to Texas and east to Illinois and Missouri. There is a disjunct population in southern British Columbia.[2] A remnant population has been found in the Willamette Valley, Oregon as of the Summer of 2004[3].

Grey copper
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Lycaenidae
Genus:
Lycaena
Species:
L. dione
Binomial name
Lycaena dione
(Scudder, 1868)[1]
Synonyms
  • Chrysophanus dione Scudder, 1868
  • Gaeides dione

The wingspan is 24–38 mm. Adults are on wing from mid-June to July or August. They feed on the nectar of Cirsium, Medicago sativa, Grindelia species and Melilotus species.

The larval host plants are Rumex salicifolius, Rumex crispus and Rumex occidentalis.

Taxonomy

Lycaena dione is sometimes treated as a subspecies of Lycaena xanthoides.[4]

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gollark: How good*.
gollark: So where are they cooking things?
gollark: Make their computer say to let you in like in that one xkcd.

References
  1. Lycaena at Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera
  2. University of Alberta E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum
  3. "Great Copper butterfly". Oregonstate.edu. Retrieved 2020-01-02.
  4. Bug Guide


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