Butterflies and moths wandering near the flower, buds, and other host plants are indeed a pleasant sight to catch. With a variety of colors, patterns, and sizes, butterflies and moths have surely conquered everyone's heart.
One of these species is eastern tailed-blue butterflies, often called eastern tailed-blues. The eastern tailed-blue, Cupido comyntas, is a blue-gray colored species of small butterfly flying close to the ground near its host plants.
The eastern tailed-blue, Everes comyntas, is also scientifically known as Cupido comyntas, or Lycaena comyntas. It is found in the undisturbed region of North America.
The butterfly has three prominent orange spots at the edge of its wings and several irregular black spots all over its pellet-shaped body. The butterfly is observed to have color variations considering seasons and sexes.
If the uniqueness of the eastern tailed-blue butterfly makes you interested to read more about similar species, you can read about the morpho butterfly and purple emperor butterfly.
Eastern Tailed-Blue Butterfly Interesting Facts
What type of animal is an eastern tailed-blue butterfly?
An eastern tailed-blue, Cupido comyntas, is one of the species of butterflies from the family of Lycaenidae. It is one of the most common blue species recorded in North America.
What class of animal does an eastern tailed-blue butterfly belong to?
An eastern tailed-blue, Everes comyntas, is a butterfly belonging to the class Arthropoda.
How many eastern tailed-blue butterflies are there in the world?
While the eastern tailed-blue (Cupido comyntas) is quite common throughout the region of eastern North America, the range of the population of species remains undeciphered. The population of the eastern tailed-blue is reported to be healthy and possesses no risk of being Endangered or Extinct.
Where does an eastern tailed-blue butterfly live?
The eastern tailed-blue (Cupido comyntas) butterfly is documented to range around the region of North America. More precisely, the species range from southeast Canada, eastern United States, western North Dakota, Colorado, central and west Texas, southeastern Arizona, Costa Rica, and western New Mexico.
What is an eastern tailed-blue butterfly's habitat?
The eastern tailed-blue (Everes comyntas) is recorded to fly at low levels, close to the ground. It is distinctively distributed among terrestrial habitats.
While it prefers open, undisturbed, and sunny areas, it is caught in the urban region of the continent too. Specifically, it inhibits the weedy region comprising host plants including white clover, downy milk pea, and red clover.
Who do eastern tailed-blue butterflies live with?
The eastern tailed-blue (Cupido comyntas) is recorded in flight (flutter or rabble) of butterflies, similar to other species of butterflies. It lives with species of flowers, flower buds, and host plants.
How long does an eastern tailed-blue butterfly live?
While moths and butterflies, in general, are studied to live up to 12-13 months at maximum, eastern tailed blues are said to have a considerable life much longer than the shortest living moth – the Indian meal moth.
How do they reproduce?
The species of eastern tailed blues are recorded to brood either from April to November or from February to November, depending on the region found. The females lay eggs on flower buds of their host plants to ensure a healthy diet for the eastern tailed-blue caterpillar.
Eggs hatch into larvae which are pale green in color which further grow into caterpillars.
The eastern tailed-blue butterfly caterpillar is reported to feed on buds, seeds, and flowers. The caterpillar hibernates in the spring season and emerges as an eastern tailed-blue (Cupido comyntas) butterfly.
What is their conservation status?
The eastern tailed-blue (Cupido comyntas) is not listed under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. While it is labeled as Not Evaluated under the IUCN List, it is reported to be globally secure under the NatureServe Conservation Status System.
Eastern Tailed-Blue Butterfly Fun Facts
What do eastern tailed-blue butterflies look like?
Eastern tailed-blues adapt various colorations, ranging from gray, green, blue, white, and brownish-black. The butterfly has irregular black spots and three prominent orange spots at the edges. While a female and male differ in appearances, there are pink and purple species of the butterflies, too.
It is frequently mistaken to be a blue morpho butterfly, though this morpho lacks the orange spots.
How cute are they?
With attractive colorations and distinctive spots, the small size butterfly is a quite cute species of butterfly. A butterfly is indeed a pleasant sight to behold.
How do they communicate?
While butterflies are studied to communicate via various chemical mechanisms, there is no research highlighting the communication method used by eastern-tailed blue butterflies. Also, butterflies use gestures and motions to communicate too, for instance, clapping of wings.
How big is an eastern tailed-blue butterfly?
An eastern tailed-blue is 0.8-1.1 in (21-29 mm) long. It is quite smaller than the largest butterfly, the Queen Alexandra's birdwing.
How fast can eastern tailed-blue butterflies fly?
The speed of the eastern tailed-blue, Cupido comyntas, is undeciphered, though it is said to fly at lower regions of its habitat. Like any butterfly, it too has a considerable flying speed.
How much does an eastern tailed-blue butterfly weigh?
The weight of the butterfly is not yet documented. It is speculated to have a negligible weight compared to its size and other moths.
What are the male and female names of the species?
There are no sex-specific names recorded for the species of eastern tailed-blues. The species is also known as Cupido comyntas or Everes comyntas.
What would you call a baby eastern tailed-blue butterfly?
A baby butterfly is often called a caterpillar. There is no specific name given to the baby butterfly. The baby butterfly emerges initially from the larva, then the caterpillar, and finally pupates from a cocoon into a juvenile.
What do they eat?
The diet of a caterpillar and an eastern tailed-blue butterfly differ from each other. While a caterpillar feeds on seeds and leaves of species of pea plants, the butterfly eats flowers, leaves, and seeds close to the floor.
Are they dangerous?
An eastern tailed-blue butterfly does not possess danger, unlike a swallowtail. Mostly, butterflies and moths, are economically fruitful, and are neither poisonous nor possess any other sort of danger.
Would they make a good pet?
No, an eastern-tailed blue butterfly is not a suitable pet as it is a wild species. Butterflies are known to live near their host plants or flowers to conquer nectar and shelter.
Did you know...
The eastern tailed-blues belong to the subfamily of Polyommatinae.
It is prominent in the region varying from great plains to urban lands. It lives close to the land and feeds on flowers with considerably lower heights.
The oranges spots on its body help in the identification of the species.
These species are recorded to sprawl with their wings at an angle of 45 degrees.
Naming the eastern tailed-blue butterfly
The eastern tailed blues are named so as it is prominent in the east of North America. Further, the blue color of the thin tail of the butterfly is emphasized by its name. It is also known as Cupido comyntas or Everes comyntas.
Do eastern tailed-blue butterflies hibernate?
Yes, rather than the butterflies, caterpillars are known to hibernate in the winter season before pupating in the spring season.
Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly animal facts for everyone to discover! Learn more about some other arthropods from our mayfly facts and puss moth facts for kids.
You can even occupy yourself at home by coloring in one of our free printable eastern tailed blue butterfly coloring pages.
