61.001 : 1561 : 7034
Lycaenidae : Lycaeninae

Small Copper

LYCAENA phlaeas (Linnaeus, 1761)

Subspecies
L.p.hibernica-Goodson, 1948 - Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland
Picture

Life Cycle Guide

Picture
Description
Alternative Names: Common Copper  : American Copper-USA
Wingspan: 26-38mm
Worldwide Distribution: Europe : North and East Central Africa : Asia Minor : Temperate Asia : Japan : North East North America
UK Distribution: Widely distributed throughout England and Ireland. The Small Copper is less common in Scotland.
UK Conservation Status -
  • Least Concern - Red List
European Conservation Status -
  • Least concern
Original Species Name -
  • Papilio phlaeus (Linnaeus, 1761)
Type Species - Lycaena
  • Papilio phlaeus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Type Locality -
  • Central Sweden
Altitude: Sea Level-2400m
Flight Period: N.Europe : Bivoline : May-Early October : S.Europe & N.Africa : Trivoltine : February-Late October : Canary Islands-Polyvoltine : January-December,up to 5 overlapping Broods.
Habitat: Diverse-suited to most types of habitat providing warm and dry conditions such as chalk downland,roadside verges,heaths,moorland,coastal dunes,churchyards,gardens,waste ground & woodland clearings.
Ovum: The ovum have the appearance of half a golf ball with intricately marked dimples and are deposited by spring females either deep into the larval food plant under tender leaves or deposited on the upperside of the leaf, adjacent to the rib.
A field observation later in the season found ova that had been deposited only on older Sorrel leaves that had turned red. A search of all the sorrel in the area only found ova on the leaves described. What would be interesting is the reason why, but what is certain is that the female is very choosy where she releases her offspring.The eggs hatch in 1-2 weeks.
Larva: The small larva initially feeds on the underside of the leaf forming a series of grooves which become wider as it grows older.
The tell tale grooves are possibly the easiest way to find this butterfly stage.The larval stage takes about 4 weeks.
The larva are usually green but can also be found with pink/purple edging along its perimeter with a central line viewed from above in the same colour.
Pupa: The pupal stage last about 3-4 weeks.
Overwinters as: Larva
Observations: First brood individuals upper side brightly marked but subsequent broods can be suffused with brown as seen in photo 4 below taken in Portugal. Later broods tend to produce larger numbers of individuals.
Aberrations are quite common with the Small Copper, the most common encounter being LYCAENA phlaeas caeruleopunctata which has a row of blue spots on the upperside hindwings.
On a visit to a site in Surrey in 2010 I was astounded to find the rare aberration LYCAENA phlaeas schmedtii where the normal copper colour is replaced with a stunning silver/white and adjacent to the thorax instead of a metallic copper sheen it is replaced with a stunning metallic green.(See photos 2 & 3 ) 
Small Copper males tend to be territorial, often settling on a stone to bask as in photo 11, in the hope of encountering a passing female, acting with aggression towards any insect intruder before settling back to their favourite resting place.
Aberrations : Subspecies
L. p.eleus (Fabricius,1798) - British Isles-Not Ireland
L. p.phlaeas Linnaeus,1761-Europe : W.Siberia : Caucasus : Transcaucasia - Not Great Britain - Nominate subspecies
L. p.phlaeas f.eleus - Linnaeus,1761 - forewing partly suffused with blackish tone - tail on hindwing strongly developed
L. p.ab.schmedtii Gerhardt, 1853-form producing silver/white forewings and metallic green basal flush replacing
the orange/copper flush - see 4 & 5
L. p.ab.caeruleopunctata Tutt, 1906-Blue spots on hindwing

Ova
The Small Copper ovum are laid conspicuously on the upper side of the larval food plant,as shown on the Sorrel leaves below.
It was very noticeable that the ovum found below were only deposited on Sorrel leaves that had turned red, completely avoiding
 the green leaves.I'm not sure if this has any relevance or purely a field observation.


Larval Food Plants Worldwide
Note - Plants hyperlinked in red below take the visitor to the relevant plant page on"Plants for a Future" website where further information like photos,physical characteristics,habitats,edible uses,medicinal uses,cultivation,propagation,range,height etc. are clearly listed.
  • Plant Families - in bold red below takes the visitor to the relevant "Lepi-plants" page where other butterflies & moths using the plants below are listed.
Larval Food Plants
Taxonomy
Kingdom:
Subkingdom:
Phylum:
Subphylum
Class:
Order:
Superfamily:
Family:
Subfamily
Tribe:
Genus:
Accepted Species Name:

Type Species-LYCAENA:

Original Species Name:








Literary Ref:

Type Locality:



Forms/Aberrations:
































Subspecies:
Animalia
Eumetozoa
Arthropoda
Hexapoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Papilionoidea 
Lycaenidae
Lycaeninae
Lycaenini
LYCAENA Fabricius, 1807
Lycaena phlaeas (Linnaeus, 1761)
-
Papilio phlaeas (Linnaeus, 1761)
-
PAPILIO phlaeas (Linnaeus, 1761)
= Papilio virgaureae Scopoli, 1763
= Papilio xanthe Schiffermüller, 1777
= Papilio timeus Cramer, 1777
= Hesperia eleus Fabricius, 1798
= Lycaena phlaeas aestivus Zeller, 1847
= Polyommatus turcicus Gerhard, 1853
= Chrysophanus stygianus Butler, 1880
= Chrysophanus phlaeoides Staudinger 1901
= Lycaena polaris Courvoisier 1911
-
Fauna Suecica (Edn 2): Title page :   p.285 n.1078
-
Central Sweden
-
L.p. anticentrijuncta Leeds, 1941
L.p. anticrassilunulata Leeds, 1941
L.p. antilacticolor Leeds, 1941
L.p. antitransiens Leeds, 1941
L.p. bipunctata Tutt, 1906
L.p. ab.caeruleopunctata Tutt 1906
L.p. centriconjuncta Tutt, 1906
L.p. cuneifera Schultz, 1905
L.p. cuprinus Peyerimhoff, 1862
L.p. extensa Tutt, 1906
L.p. fasciata Strecker, 1878
L.p. fuscae Robson, 1888
L.p. fuscata Tutt, 1906
L.p. hubneri Oberthür, 1905
L.p. ignita  Tutt
L.p. infra-radiata Tutt, 1906
L.p. infuscata Tutt, 1906
L.p. juncta Tutt, 1906
L.p. kochi Strand
L.p. lacticolour Leeds
L.p. latomarginata Tutt, 1906
L.p. magnipuncta Tutt, 1906
L.p. minor Tutt, 1906
L.p. obliterata Scudder, 1889
L.p. obsoleta Tutt, 1896
L.p. obsoleta-caeruleopunctata Tutt
L.p. parvipuncta Strand, 1902
L.p. radiata Frohawk, 1914
L.p. ab.schmidtii Gerhard, 1853-Silver/white forewing,metallic green basal flush
L.p. supra-radiata Oberthür, 1896
L.p. transformis Leeds, 1941
-
L.p.hibernica-Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland
L.p.phlaeas-Europe : western Siberia : Caucasus : South Caucasus - Nominate subspecies
L.p. eleus Fabricius, 1798-England : Wales : Scotland
L.p.hypophlaeas Boisduval, 1852-Altai : S.Siberia : Amur : N.Ussuri : Massachusetts : New York : New Jersey
L.p.chinensis Felder, 1862-S.Ussuri
L.p.pseudophlaeas Lucas, 1866-Uganda : Ethiopia
L.p.stygiana Butler, 1880-W Pamirs
L.p.oxiana Grum-Grshimailo, 1890-Kopet-Dagh : Alai : Ghissar-Darvaz : Tian-Shan
L.p.comedarum Grum-Grshimailo, 1890-E Pamirs
L.p.abbotti Holland, 1892-Kenya : Tanzania : Malawi
L.p.arethusa Dod, 1907-Alberta
L.p.daimio Seitz,1909-S.Kuriles : Sakhalin
L.p.polaris Courvoisier, 1911- N.Urals : N.Siberia : Chukotka
L.p.ethiopica Poulton, 1922-SW.Uganda (Ruwenzori Mts)
L.p.flavens Ford, 1924-Tibet
L.p.coccineus Ford, 1924
L.p.shima Gabriel, 1954-Arabia : Yemen
L.p.arctogon Ferris, 1974-Montana
L.p.feildeni McLachlan, 1878-Ellesmere Is.
L.p.kamtschatica Gorbunov, 1994- Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia)
L.p ganalica Gorbunov, 1995-Kamchatka
L.p.alpestris Emmel & Pratt, 1998-California