Grey copper facts for kids
The Grey Copper butterfly, also known as the Great Copper, is a beautiful insect from the Lycaenidae family. Its scientific name is Lycaena dione. A scientist named Samuel Hubbard Scudder first described this species in 1868.
You can find the Grey Copper butterfly in many parts of North America. It lives in the southern Canadian Prairies and western Ontario in Canada. In the United States, it flies south to Texas and east to Illinois and Missouri. There's also a separate group of these butterflies in southern British Columbia. A small group was even found in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, in 2004.
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About the Grey Copper Butterfly
The Grey Copper butterfly is quite small. Its wingspan (the distance from one wingtip to the other when the wings are spread out) is usually between 24 and 38 millimeters. That's about the size of a large coin!
These butterflies are active during the warmer months. You can typically see adult Grey Coppers flying from mid-June through July or August. They spend their time looking for food.
What the Grey Copper Eats
Adult Grey Copper butterflies love to drink nectar from flowers. Nectar is a sweet liquid that gives them energy. They often visit plants like Cirsium (which includes thistles), Medicago sativa, Grindelia species, and Melilotus species (also known as sweet clover).
Life Cycle: Where its Babies Grow
The baby Grey Copper butterflies are called larvae, or caterpillars. These caterpillars need specific plants to eat and grow. They feed on the leaves of certain types of dock plants. Their favorite food plants include Rumex salicifolius, Rumex crispus, and Rumex occidentalis. These plants are very important for the caterpillars to develop into adult butterflies.
Taxonomy: Its Scientific Family
Sometimes, scientists group the Grey Copper butterfly (Lycaena dione) very closely with another butterfly called Lycaena xanthoides. They are so similar that Lycaena dione is sometimes considered a type, or subspecies, of Lycaena xanthoides. This shows how closely related these two butterfly species are.
