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Brephidium
''Brephidium'' is a genus of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae. They are known commonly as pygmy blues. The species of this genus have a disjunct distribution. Two of the three species are found in the Americas while the third is found in Africa. Species The following three species are in the genus ''Brephidium'': *'' Brephidium exilis'' (Boisduval, 1852) – western pygmy blue (southern United States to South America) *''Brephidium metophis'' (Wallengren, 1860) – South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe *''Brephidium pseudofea ''Brephidium pseudofea'', the eastern pygmy-blue, is a species of blue in the butterfly family Lycaenidae. It is found in the southern United States, typically in coastal saltmarshes A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt ma ...'' (Morrison, 1873) – eastern pygmy blue (southeastern United States) References * Lycaenidae genera {{Polyommatini-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brephidium Exilis The western pygmy blue (''Brephidium exilis'' or ''Brephidium exile'') is one of the smallest butterflies in the world and the smallest in North America. It has reached Hawaii, as well as the Persian Gulf, including eastern Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Description The upperside is copper brown with dull blue at the bases of both wings. The underside of the hindwing is copper brown with white at the base; the fringe mostly white, with 3 small black spots near base, and a row of black spots at outer margin. The wingspan is 12–20 mm. Biology Males establish a territory in which they look for receptive females to mate with. After mating, females lay eggs on all parts of the host plant, oftenmost on the uppersides of leaves. The caterpillars eat all parts of the plant; host species include Pigweed (''Chenopodium album''), saltbush species ('' Atriplex''), and others in the goosefoot family (Chenopodiaceae). Adult imagos appear in July–September in the n ... [...More Info...] |