Cupido comyntas

Resident in Eastern North America (Scott 1986), with several isolated populations in the west. Habitats are upper Sonoran zone/lower Austral zone to lower Canadian zone desert foothills, moist meadows, streamsides, and forest clearings. Host plants are usually herbaceous or shrubs and include many species, but mostly in one family, with most known hosts from Leguminosae. Eggs are laid on the host plant singly. Individuals overwinter as larvae, sometimes in host pods. There are several flights each year with the approximate flight times May1-Oct 31 in the northern part of the range, and Feb1-Nov30 on gulf coast, May15-Sept15 in Colorado, Mar1-Sept30 in Calif. (Scott 1986).

Cupido comyntas can be found in the upper Sonoran Zone to lower Canadian foothills, or the lower Canadian Zone in the east. Most populations are found in the eastern United States and Canadian areas. There are some isolated colonies in Oregon and California.

Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )

occurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Global Range: (>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)) S. Canada south to Central America, east of the Rockies. Also occurs west of the Rockies, although spottily.

Tailed blues have a wingspan of 7/8 - 1 1/8". The wings of the males are pale blue with a brownish tint on the sides. There is a small orange spot at the base of the tail of these butterflies. Females have larger wings that are gray with a shot of blue streaking down them. The underside of the female's wings are gray and white with a curved row of gray spots. The hindwings have eyespots. During the spring the females are bluer than during the summer, when C. comyntas is brown. There are two orange spots on the underside of the butterfly, and the upper side has an orange spot on the males.

Range wingspan: .022 to .035 m.

Average wingspan: .028 m.

Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; heterothermic ; bilateral symmetry

Sexual Dimorphism: female larger; sexes colored or patterned differently

The habitats in which they live are usually moist meadows, desert foothills, stream sides, roadsides and forest paths or clearings. Also, they are attracted to weedy fields and gardens. This causes Cupido comyntas to profit from human encroachment.

Habitat Regions: terrestrial

Terrestrial Biomes: desert or dune ; forest

Other Habitat Features: riparian

Habitat Type: Terrestrial

Comments: A great variety of open, brushy to lightly wooded, generally dry, habitats with any of the many native and exotic legumes used by the larvae.

Non-Migrant: No. All populations of this species make significant seasonal migrations.

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

Cupido comyntas has a short proboscis (the small, flexible snout which the butterfly uses to sip nectar), which restricts it to feeding from open or short-tubed flowers. Blossoms are also frequently visited by this species. Often E. comyntas will fly to mud puddles for water, which provide it with amino acids and dissolved minerals. Its favorite food plants are lupine and vetch. The caterpillar of E. comyntas eats clover and other leguminous plants.

Plant Foods: leaves; nectar

Primary Diet: herbivore (Folivore , Nectarivore )

Everes comyntas Godart: Lycaenidae, Lepidoptera
(some observations are from Fothergill & Vaughn and Hilty, otherwise observations are from Robertson; this butterfly is the Eastern Tailed-Blue)

Apiaceae: Cicuta maculata sn (Rb), Eryngium yuccifolium sn (Rb), Zizia aurea sn (Rb); Asclepiadaceae: Asclepias purpurascens [plab sn] (Rb), Asclepias sullivanti [plab sn] (Rb), Asclepias tuberosa [plab] (Rb), Asclepias verticillata [plab] [plup] (Rb, H); Asteraceae: Aster pilosus sn (Rb, FV), Boltonia asterioides sn (Rb), Erigeron pulchellus sn (Rb), Eupatorium sessilifolium sn (Rb), Eupatorium serotinum sn (Rb), Euthamia graminifolia sn (Rb), Oligoneuron rigidum sn (Rb), Pluchea camphorata sn (FV), Ratibida pinnata sn (Rb), Rudbeckia subtomentosa sn (Rb), Rudbeckia triloba sn (Rb); Brassicaceae: Cardamine bulbosa sn (Rb), Dentaria laciniata sn (Rb); Campanulaceae: Lobelia spicata sn (Rb), Triodanis perfoliata sn (Rb); Fabaceae: Cercis canadensis sn (Rb), Crotalaria sagittalis sn np (Rb), Dalea candida sn (Rb), Dalea purpurea sn (Rb), Desmodium illinoense exp np (Rb), Lespedeza procumbens sn np (Rb), Lespedeza virginica sn fq np (Rb), Trifolium pratense sn (Rb), Trifolium repens sn (Rb, FV); Geraniaceae: Geranium maculatum sn (Rb); Lamiaceae: Lycopus americanus sn (Rb), Pycnanthemum tenuifolium sn (Rb), Teucrium canadense sn (Rb); Liliaceae: Nothoscordum bivalve sn (Rb); Lythraceae: Ammannia coccinea sn (Rb); Onagraceae: Ludwigia alternifolia sn (Rb); Polygonaceae: Fallopia scandens sn (Rb); Portulacaceae: Claytonia virginica sn (Rb); Rosaceae: Fragaria virginiana sn (Rb), Potentilla norvegica sn (Rb); Rubiaceae: Cephalanthus occidentalis sn (Rb); Scrophulariaceae: Lindernia dubia sn (Rb), Scrophularia marilandica sn (Rb), Veronicastrum virginicum sn (Rb); Verbenaceae: Phyla lanceolata sn (Rb), Verbena bracteata sn (Rb), Verbena stricta sn (Rb), Verbena urticifolia sn fq (Rb)

This species acts as a pollinator, and also as an herbivore. It also may be prey to many other species.

Ecosystem Impact: pollinates

Cupido comyntas has a mutualistic association with ants. The caterpillars of this species secrete a "honeydew" from their abdomen. This liquid is rich in sugars and proteins. The liquid feeds the ants, and in return the ants protect the caterpillars against any possible predators.

Additionally, when E. comyntas senses a potential predator, it will rub its hindwings together to divert the predator from its vulnerable foreparts.

Note: For many non-migratory species, occurrences are roughly equivalent to populations.

Estimated Number of Occurrences: 81 to >300

10,000 to >1,000,000 individuals

Comments: Very abundant.

Adults sip flower nectar and mud. Males patrol for females (Scott, 1986).

The eggs from C. comyntas are laid on the leaves and flowers. The eggs, which are pale green in color, will develop into mature larvae that hibernate within the host's pod. The caterpillars are hairy with a dark green body. They also have dark brown stripes and a small black head. The caterpillars will use the flower bud that they were laid on as food, and then will later construct and hibernate their cocoon for the winter months. In the spring, an E. comyntas butterfly will emerge from the cocoon, and the life cycle will start over again.

Development - Life Cycle: metamorphosis

The males will look for mates during warm, daylight hours. Usually mating takes place from late morning to midafternoon. Female C. comyntas butterflies lay their eggs on immature flowering buds, in order to preserve the flowers for the caterpillars when they hatch early in the season. There are usually two or more generations a year.

Key Reproductive Features: seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (Internal ); oviparous

Beyond developing, laying, and fertilizing eggs, adults show no parental involvement with their offspring.

Parental Investment: pre-fertilization (Provisioning)

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 8
Specimens with Barcodes: 51
Species With Barcodes: 1

The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.

There are 7 barcode sequences available from BOLD and GenBank.  Below is a sequence of the barcode region Cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI or COX1) from a member of the species.  See the BOLD taxonomy browser for more complete information about this specimen and other sequences.

Download FASTA File

Conservation for the E. comyntas is not usually required. The Nature Conservancy Global Ranking system gives this species a rank of G5 which means that the E. comyntas is secure, but might be rare in some parts of its geographical range. (Opler 1992)

US Federal List: no special status

CITES: no special status

State of Michigan List: no special status

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Reasons: Widespread in eastern U.S., Mexico, and Central America.

Degree of Threat: D : Unthreatened throughout its range, communities may be threatened in minor portions of the range or degree of variation falls within natural variation

Comments: Subspecies texanus in Texas purportedly endangered.

Global Protection: Many to very many (13 to >40) occurrences appropriately protected and managed