Animalia > Arthropoda > Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae > Lycaeides > Lycaeides melissa

Lycaeides melissa (karner blue; Melissa Blue)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

The Melissa blue (Plebejus melissa) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in Western North America, from Canada to Mexico. The Karner Blue (Plebejus melissa samuelis) is a subspecies of the Melissa blue, and was described by the novelist/lepidopterist Vladimir Nabokov. The wingspan is 22–35 mm. The butterfly flies from April to August depending on the location. The larvae feed on Lupin, Medicago and Lotus species.
View Wikipedia Record: Lycaeides melissa

Infraspecies

Lycaeides melissa annetta
Lycaeides melissa fridayi
Lycaeides melissa inyoensis
Lycaeides melissa melissa
Lycaeides melissa mexicana
Lycaeides melissa paradoxa
Lycaeides melissa pseudosamuelis
Lycaeides melissa samuelis (Karner Blue)

Attributes

Diet [1]  Herbivore
Wing Span [2]  0.906 inches (.023 m)

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Climate Land Use
Badlands National Park II 178535 South Dakota, United States
Calvin College Ecosystem Preserve 90 Michigan, United States
Carlsbad Caverns National Park II 15448 New Mexico, United States

Emblem of

New Hampshire

Prey / Diet

Eriogonum umbellatum (sulfer flower buckwheat)[3]

Predators

Proctacanthus micans[4]

External References

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org
♦ 2Butterflies of Canada, Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility
♦ 3HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
♦ 4Predator-Prey Database for the family Asilidae (Hexapoda: Diptera) Prepared by Dr. Robert Lavigne, Professor Emeritus, University of Wyoming, USA and Dr. Jason Londt (Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg)
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0