Acadian hairstreak

(Satyrium acadica)

Conservation Status
Acadian hairstreak
Photo by Terry O'Brien
  IUCN Red List

not listed

 
  NatureServe

N5 - Secure

S4 - Apparently Secure

 
  Minnesota

not listed

 
           
           
           
           
           
           
 
Description
 
 

Acadian hairstreak is a medium-sized, gossamer-winged butterfly.

It occurs in the northern United States from Maine to New Jersey, west to Montana and Colorado, and in southern Canada from Prince Edward Island to Alberta. Larvae feed on the leaves of shrubby willows. Adults are found from late June to early August in shrubby, usually wet areas, including meadows, marshes, stream sides, and roadside ditches. They feed on flower nectar.

Adults have a 1316 to 1¼ (30 to 32 mm) wingspan. The upper side of the wings are rarely seen because this butterfly perches with wings closed and is rarely seen from above. Like other hairstreaks, the hindwing has two tails near the tip. The shorter, upper tail is very short and often does not look at all like a tail.

The underside of both wings is light gray. Each wing has an elongated, dash-like cell end bar, a curved postmedial row of round spots, and a submarginal row of orange crescent-shaped spots. The cell end bar and postmedial spots are black and are circled with white. The inner edge of each submarginal spot is capped with an inner black and outer white border. Across both wings the submarginal spots become progressively smaller and with less orange as they approach the tip of the forewing. On the hindwing, there is a large, light blue spot capped with orange below the tail, and a long, narrow, orange spot on the inner margin at the anal angle. The blue spot extends nearly to the postmedial band.

The eyes are black.

The antennae are striped black-and-white and have an orange-tipped club.

 
     
 

Size

 
 

Wingspan: 1316 to 1¼ (30 to 32 mm)

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
     
     
 
Habitat and Hosts
 
 

Shrubby, usually wet areas, including meadows, marshes, stream sides, and roadside ditches.

Shrubby willows.

 
     
 
Biology
 
 

Season

 
 

One generation per year: late June to early August

 
     
 

Behavior

 
 

Adults perch with their wings closed above their body. They are rarely seen with their wings spread.

 
     
 

Life Cycle

 
 

Eggs overwinter

 
     
 

Larva Food

 
 

Leaves of willows

 
     
 

Adult Food

 
 

Flower nectar

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

21, 24, 27, 29, 30, 75, 82.

 
  7/27/2022      
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

 

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
 

Order

Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths)  
 

Superfamily

Papilionoidea (butterflies)  
 

Family

Lycaenidae (gossamer-winged butterflies)  
 

Subfamily

Theclinae (hairstreaks)  
 

Tribe

Eumaeini  
  Subtribe Eumaeina  
 

Genus

Satyrium (satyrid hairstreaks)  
  Subgenus Satyrium  
       
 

Subordinate Taxa

 
 

Acadian hairstreak (Satyrium acadica acadica)

Acadian hairstreak (Satyrium acadica coolinensis)

Montana hairstreak (Satyrium acadica montanensis)

 
       
 

Three subspecies have been described based on size and overall darkness. However, the characters used to separate them intergrade throughout the range of the species. Most sources consider the subspecies invalid.

 
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

Satyrium acadicum

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

Acadian hairstreak

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Anal angle

The angle at the corner formed where the outer and inner margins meet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gender Conformity

According to the The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), the gender of a species name must conform to the gender of the genus name.

There are no persons alive today who we can consult whose native language is Latin. Few taxonomists know the correct way to use Latin to properly assign a gender to a proposed species name. Species are sometimes transferred to a different genus with a different gender. For these reasons, some butterflies have species names that do not conform to the gender of the genus name.

Satyrium acadica is one of those species. The correct, gender conforming name should be Satyrium acadicum.

The trend among butterfly workers worldwide has been to ignore the ICZN rule and keep the original spellings. BugGuide.net rejects this trend and uses the binomial name Satyrium acadicum. Virtually every other source uses the original spelling, Satyrium acadica.

 
 
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Terry O'Brien

 
 

On milkweed near willows, among skippers.

 
    Acadian hairstreak      
           
 
MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos
 
 

 

 
           

 

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Slideshows
 
Acadian Hairstreak
Cory Gregory
  Acadian Hairstreak  

 

slideshow

       
 
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  Terry O'Brien
7/15/2022

Location: Itasca County

On milkweed near willows, among skippers.

Acadian hairstreak  
           
 
MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings
 
 

 

 

 

 

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Created: 7/27/2022

Last Updated:

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