Eastern Tailed-Blue
Elkalyce comyntas
The Eastern Tailed-Blue is a small butterfly of open fields, roadsides, prairies, and weedy edges where clovers, vetches, and other legumes grow. Adults sip nectar from low flowers and fly in short, quick bursts close to the ground. Caterpillars feed on legume flower buds, seedpods, and leaves, and may be tended by ants that collect their sugary secretions. A notable feature is the tiny hindwing tails and orange eyespot pattern, which can misdirect predators toward the rear of the butterfly instead of the head.
- Type
- Wing
- Conservation status
- NE
Growth chain
- ?
- ?
- Eastern Tailed-Blue