Scarce copper

Taxobox
name = Scarce copper


image_width = 240px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Lepidoptera
familia = Lycaenidae
subfamilia = Lycaeninae
genus = Lycaena
species = "L. virgaureae"
binomial = "Lycaena virgaureae"
binomial_authority = (Linnaeus, 1758)
synonyms = "Heodes virgaureae"The scarce copper ("Lycaena virgaureae") is a butterfly of the copper or gossamer-winged butterfly family.

Appearance

The lower surfaces of the back wings are yellowish and have only a few black dots; there are characteristic white marks the immediate vicinity of these. The species exhibits one kind of sexual dimorphism: male butterflies are colored bright gold-red on the upper side of wing, while the females have broader orange wings with a dark design.

Life cycle

A generation appears from mid-July to mid-September.

Eggs are laid on dried-out plant parts, for example on dry sorrel stems. The eggs are white in color and somewhat larger than those of other "Lycaena" species. The caterpillars are green and nocturnal and eat sorrel. "Lycaena virgaureae" is the only species of this genus whose eggs last over the winter. The butterflies feed on blossoms of such plants as the ground-elder, eupatorium, valeriana, and burnet saxifrage. [cite book|first=Günter|last=Ebert|title=Die Schmetterlinge Baden Württembergs|volume=2, Tagfalter II|publisher=Ulmer Verlag|location=Stuttgart|year=1993|id=ISBN 3-8001-3459-4]

Habitat

"Lycaena virgaureae" lives preferably on flower-rich, dry and damp meadows in Central Europe. In Spain it is found in the Pyrenees and in the Cantabrian Mountains. In southern France it is found in the Massif Central. Its area of distribution reaches the Arctic Circle in Fennoscandia in the north; in the south it reaches north and northwest Greece. It is not found, however, on the British Isles, in Belgium, or the Netherlands. It can be found as far east as Mongolia. The scarce copper is found at elevations of 1,000 to 2,000 meters. [cite book|first=Tom|last=Tolman|coauthors=Richard Lewington|title=Die Tagfalter Europas und Nordwestafrikas|publisher=Frankh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co|location=Stuttgart|year=1998|id=ISBN 3-440-07573-7]

Subspecies

* "Lycaena virgaureae montanus" Meyer-Dür, 1851. Found in the Alps in France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and Austria at elevations of 1,700–2,000 meters.
* "Lycaena virgaureae miegii" Vogel, 1857. North and central Spain at elevations of 600–1,600 meters.

References

External links

* [http://www.eurobutterflies.com/species_pages/virgaureae.htm www.eurobutterflies.com]
* [http://www.leps.it/indexjs.htm?SpeciesPages/Lycaenvirgau.htm Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa]
* [http://www.lepiforum.de/cgi-bin/lepiwiki.pl?Lycaena_Virgaureae www.lepiforum.de: Fotos und Taxonomie] de icon
* [http://www.schmetterling-raupe.de/art/virgaureae.htm www.schmetterling-raupe.de] de icon
* [http://www.insektenbox.de/schmet/dukatf.htm www.insektenbox.de] de icon
* [http://www.geocities.com/~knighty_m/Deutsch/virgaureae.htm Mario Meier - Europäische Schmetterlinge] de icon