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Hessel's Hairstreak (Callophrys hesseli [Rawson & Ziegler])
Wing span: 1 - 1 1/8 inch (2.5 - 2.8 cm).
Identification: Two tails on hindwing. Underside blue-green; white spots surrounded by patches of red-brown. Forewing's costal white spot is set inward of the other spots in postmedian row.
Life history: Males perch at tops of host trees to seek receptive females. Eggs are laid singly on terminal growth of host tree; caterpillars eat new growth and older foliage. Chrysalids hibernate.
Flight: One flight in late May in New England, two flights from April-July in the south.
Caterpillar hosts: Atlantic white-cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) in the family Cupressaceae.
Adult food: Nectar from flowers including swamp milkweed, shadbush, sand myrtle, sweet pepperbush, highbush blueberry, buttonbush, and dogbane.
Habitat: Coastal plains swamps and stream banks, associated barrens.
Range: Southern Maine south along the Atlantic coastal plain to northern Florida on the Gulf Coast.
Conservation: Most populations are small and local. All are worthy of being conserved.
The Nature Conservancy Global Rank: G3 - Very rare or local throughout its range or found locally in a restricted range (21 to 100 occurrences). (Threatened throughout its range).
Management needs: Maintain different successional stages of white-cedar swamps and prevent loss of white-cedar stands.
References:
Opler, P. A. and G. O. Krizek. 1984. Butterflies east of the Great Plains. Johns
Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. 294 pages, 54 color plates.
Opler, P. A. and V. Malikul. 1992. A field guide to eastern butterflies. Peterson
field guide #4. Houghton-Mifflin Co., Boston. 396 pages, 48 color plates.
Scott, J. A. 1986. The butterflies of North America. Stanford University Press,
Stanford, Calif. 583 pages, 64 color plates.
Author: Jane M. Struttmann
State and Regional References:
Glassberg, J. 1993. Butterflies Through Binoculars: A Field Guide to
Butterflies in the Boston-New York-Washington Region. Oxford Univ. Press,
New York, N.Y. 160 pp.
Clark, A.H. and Clark, L.F. 1951. The Butterflies of Virginia. Smithsonian
Miscellaneous collection No. 116:1-239.
Layberry, R.A., Hall, P.W. & Lafontaine, D.J., 1998. The Butterflies of
Canada. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, ON. 280 pp.
Opler, P.A. 1998. A field guide to eastern butterflies, revised format.
Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.
Woodbury, E.N. 1994. Butterflies of Delmarva. Delaware Nature Society, Inc.,
Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, MD. 138 pp. [NOTE: this book only
treats True Butterflies (Papilionoidea). It does not treat Skippers
(Hesperioidea).]
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