Status:  uncommon resident

Flights:  2, May-Nov


Distribution/known sites in Monterey County:  widely scattered; Fort Ord, Fort Hunter-Liggett, Big Creek Reserve, upper Salinas River


Habitats:  moist areas; low elev fields, marsh, high elev meadows

Host plants:  dock, knotweed (buckwheats), cinquefoil

Adult food:  flower nectar


Conservation:  none required


Remarks: 

  1. •  very sim. to Dorcas copper, esp. in CO; may be lumped

  2. •  male purplish; female variable, but often extensive orange above

 
 

Purplish Copper   Lycaena helloides

 

Life history facts


egg: scattered at base of host plant or in litter beneath it; hibernate

larva: feeds on leaves

pupa: ?

adult:  males perch, sometimes patrol in low spots for females

fort ord

8-14-08