Gossamer Winged Butterflies

Gossamer Wings are small butterflies, generally brightly colored, who often have an antenna-like tail on the back of their wings, often complete with “eyes”, thought to be a device to confuse predators. The group includes the Blues, the Hairstreaks, the Elfins, the Coppers, and the Harvesters.

Blues

Butterflies	Size of Adult	Where found	When seen	Larval plants	Interesting facts
Eastern Tailed-blue $C:\Users\Karen\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Word\eastern tail blue close up.jpg$	tiny, .5-1 inch	fields, vacant lots, roadsides	Apr-Oct	clovers, bush clover, beggarweeds	Tiny, often loses its “tail”. Female is brown.
Spring azure	small,0.75-1.25inch	open, deciduous woodlands, gardens	Mar-June	flowers of cherry, dogwood,viburnum,holly,etc	Often seen very early in spring
Summer Azure	small,0.75-1.25inch	open, deciduous woodlands, gardens	May-Sept	flowers of ceanothus, sumac, holly, winged sumac, dogwood,viburnum,holly,etc	Often seen fluttering high up in its host trees.

Hairstreaks

Butterflies	Size of Adult	Where found	When seen	Larval plants	Interesting facts
Coral Hairstreak	1-1.5 inch	brushy clearings, fields, pastures	Apr-Sept	Cherry and Plum	Very fond of milkweed for nectar
Red-banded Hairstreak $C:\Users\Karen\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Word\red banded hairstreak closeup.jpg$	1 inch	woodland edges and adjacent areas, gardens	Apr-Oct	Wax myrtle, sumacs	Caterpillars feed on dead leaves beneath host plant
Gray Hairstreak $C:\Users\Karen\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Word\grey hairstreak on mistflower.jpg$	1-1.5 inch	Fields, clearings, meadows, gardens	Mar-Oct	wide variety-beggarweed, vetch, peas, lupine, clover,mallow, Sida	Very abundant
Henry's Elfin	1 inch	deciduous woods, forest clearings	Mar-May	Red bud, yaupon holly, American holly	Very localized populations
Juniper Hairstreak	1 inch	Fields, hillsides, near eastern red cedar	Mar-Sept	Eastern red cedar and southern red cedar	Fond of mint as nectar source

Girl Scout Butterfly Air Garden

Gossamer Winged Butterflies