A Spring Azure in Baltimore Co., Maryland (3/30/2007).
Photo by
Steve Collins
MBP List
A Spring Azure in Allegany Co., Maryland (4/17/2013).
Photo by
Annette Allor
MBP List
A Spring Azure in Anne Arundel Co., Maryland (4/26/2015). Identification verified by Harry Pavulaan.
A Spring Azure in Anne Arundel Co., Maryland (4/26/2015). Identification verified by Harry Pavulaan.
Spring Azure in Anne Arundel Co., Maryland (4/3/2022).
Spring Azure in Allegany Co., Maryland (4/15/2022). (c) rborchelt, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC).
Spring Azure in Allegany Co., Maryland (4/22/2022). (c) rborchelt, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC).
Spring Azure in Allegany Co., Maryland (4/22/2022). (c) rborchelt, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC).
A Spring Azure collected in Wicomico Co., Maryland (4/25/2019). Determined by Harry Pavulaan & David Wright.
A Spring Azure collected in Wicomico Co., Maryland (4/25/2019). Determined by Harry Pavulaan & David Wright.
A Spring Azure collected in Wicomico Co., Maryland (4/25/2019). Determined by Harry Pavulaan & David Wright.
A Spring Azure collected in Wicomico Co., Maryland (4/25/2019). Determined by Harry Pavulaan & David Wright.
A comparison of a male Spring Azure and a male spring form of Summer Azure (4/26/2014).
Photo by
Richard Orr
MBP List
Map Snapshot
149 Records
Status
Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon) is part of the infamous azure complex, which contains some of the most challenging eastern butterflies to identify to species. A number of populations are separated temporally, or by host plant association, but may occur sympatrically at the same locality. Several new species have been described in recent years, and more may await. Spring Azure (s. l.) formerly included a number of these distinct populations, but many have now been determined to be distinct species. This species, as currently defined, flies from early April to early May in Maryland (Butterflies of Maryland: A Biological Summary and Checklist by Lynn Davidson & Richard Smith).
Description
Under microscopic examination, the scalation of the male upperwing is distinctive. The male of ladon is unique among our blue azure species in lacking the scent-producing androconia scale patches. The appearance of the blue upperwing also differs subtly from the spring form of Summer Azure, and may appear more violet in hue (various pages on Rick Borchelt's fantastic blog https://leplog.wordpress.com/).
Relationships
This species apparently uses dogwoods (genus Cornus), Black Cherry (Prunus serotina), and blueberries (Vaccinium sp.) (Butterflies of Maryland: A Biological Summary and Checklist by Lynn Davidson & Richard Smith).
Citations
No citations linked for this taxon yet.
Use of media featured on Maryland
Biodiversity Project is only permitted with express permission of the
photographer.
A Spring Azure in Baltimore Co., Maryland (3/30/2007).
Media by
Steve Collins.
A Spring Azure in Allegany Co., Maryland (4/17/2013).
Media by
Annette Allor.
A Spring Azure in Anne Arundel Co., Maryland (4/26/2015). Identification verified by Harry Pavulaan.
View Record Details
Media by
Timothy Reichard.
A Spring Azure in Anne Arundel Co., Maryland (4/26/2015). Identification verified by Harry Pavulaan.
View Record Details
Media by
Timothy Reichard.
Spring Azure in Anne Arundel Co., Maryland (4/3/2022).
View Record Details
Media by
Lydia Fravel.
Spring Azure in Allegany Co., Maryland (4/15/2022). (c) rborchelt, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC).
View Record Details
Media by
rborchelt via iNaturalist.
Spring Azure in Allegany Co., Maryland (4/22/2022). (c) rborchelt, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC).
View Record Details
Media by
rborchelt via iNaturalist.
Spring Azure in Allegany Co., Maryland (4/22/2022). (c) rborchelt, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC).
View Record Details
Media by
rborchelt via iNaturalist.
A Spring Azure collected in Wicomico Co., Maryland (4/25/2019). Determined by Harry Pavulaan & David Wright.
View Record Details
Media by
Josh Emm.
A Spring Azure collected in Wicomico Co., Maryland (4/25/2019). Determined by Harry Pavulaan & David Wright.
View Record Details
Media by
Josh Emm.
A Spring Azure collected in Wicomico Co., Maryland (4/25/2019). Determined by Harry Pavulaan & David Wright.
View Record Details
Media by
Josh Emm.
A Spring Azure collected in Wicomico Co., Maryland (4/25/2019). Determined by Harry Pavulaan & David Wright.
View Record Details
Media by
Josh Emm.
A comparison of a male Spring Azure and a male spring form of Summer Azure (4/26/2014).
Media by
Richard Orr.
Source: Wikipedia
| Spring azure | |
|---|---|
| |
| Male, Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park, Washington, United States | |
_female.jpg)
| |
| Female, Panama | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Lycaenidae |
| Genus: | Celastrina |
| Species: | C. ladon
|
| Binomial name | |
| Celastrina ladon (Cramer, 1780)
| |
Celastrina ladon, the spring azure or echo blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America from Alaska and Canada south of the tundra, through most of the United States except the Texas coast, southern plain and peninsula Florida; south in the mountains to Colombia, also on Molokai island, Hawaii.[citation needed]
Since the publication of a monograph on the Lycaenopsis group of lycaenid genera in 1983 by Eliot & Kawazoe,[2] C. ladon has been considered by some taxonomic authorities to be a subspecies of C. argiolus (Linnaeus, 1758). Other authorities still consider C. ladon and related species C. neglecta and C. serotina to be "full" species.[3][4][5][6][7]
Its wingspan is 22–35 millimetres (0.87–1.38 in). The metallic blue wings have a black margin in females. The undersides of the wings are white with speckles.[8]
Similar species
[edit]- Cherry gall azure (C. serotina)
- Holly azure (C. idella)
- Lucia azure (C. lucia)
- Summer azure (C. neglecta)
References
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Celastrina ladon.
Wikispecies has information related to Celastrina ladon.
- ^ "NatureServe Explorer 2.0 Celastrina ladon Spring Azure". explorer.natureserve.org. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ Eliot, J. N. and Kawazoe, A., 1983. Blue butterflies of the Lycaenopsis group: 1-309, 6 pls. London.
- ^ Cherry Gall Azure full species status, BugGuide.com
- ^ Spring Azure, Butterflies of Canada
- ^ Spring Azure Archived 2009-03-13 at the Wayback Machine, Butterflies and Moths of North America
- ^ Spring Azure, Encyclopedia of Life
- ^ Celastrina at Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera
- ^ Will, Kip; Gross, Joyce; Rubinoff, Daniel; Powell, Jerry A. (2020). Field Guide to California Insects. Oakland, California: University of California Press. p. 406. ISBN 9780520288744.