Lycaena epixanthe

Lycaena epixanthe
Saint-Narcisse-de-Rimouski, Québec
Female, Mer Bleue Conservation Area, Ottawa, Ontario

Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Genus: Lycaena
Subgenus: Epidemia
Species:
L. epixanthe
Binomial name
Lycaena epixanthe
(Boisduval & Le Conte, [1835])
Synonyms
  • Epidemia epixanthe

Lycaena epixanthe, also known as the bog copper or cranberry-bog copper, is a North American species of butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. Adults like to sip drops of dew clinging to leaves and almost exclusively nectar on their host plant, cranberries. Because of this, bog coppers will spend their entire lives within the area of a single acid bog. Even though their flight is weak and close to the ground, bog coppers are hard to catch because of the habitat in which they live. Also, 85% of the bog coppers life span is spent in the egg. It is listed as a species of special concern in the US state of Connecticut.