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