''Strymon acis'', the Bartram's scrub-hairstreak, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

of the family

Lycaenidae Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterfl ...

. It is found in southern

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. The habitat consists of openings in pine woods.

Description

The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 22–29 mm. The upper side is dark gray. The underside of the wings is pale gray with white lines and contrasting thinner black lines. The hindwing has 1 long and 1 short tail. The underside is light gray. There is 2 white spots near the base of the wing. Eggs are laid singly of flower stalks of host plants. Young caterpillars eat the upper side of leaves, flowers, and fruit. Older caterpillars only eat leaves. There are between three and four flights in Florida between the months of February and November. The larvae feed on the flower buds and young fruits of ''

Croton linearis Croton may refer to: Biology *Crotoneae, a tribe of the flowering plant subfamily Crotonoideae * ''Croton'' (plant), a plant genus of the family Euphorbiaceae **''Croton capitatus'', also known as the woolly croton **''Croton hancei'', a species ...

''. Adults feed on nectar from flowers of narrow-leafed croton and

shepherd's needle ''Scandix pecten-veneris'' (shepherd's-needle, Venus' comb, Stork's needle) is a species of edible plant belonging to the family Apiaceae. It is native to Eurasia, but is known to occur elsewhere. It is named for its long fruit, which has a thick ...

Subspecies

*''Strymon acis acis'' *''Strymon acis bartrami'' (Comstock & Huntington, 1943) (southern Florida) *''Strymon acis casasi'' (Comstock & Huntington, 1943) (Cuba) *''Strymon acis mars'' (Fabricius, 1776)

References

acis Butterflies of the Caribbean Butterflies of North America Butterflies described in 1773 Taxa named by Dru Drury {{Eumaeini-stub