Colorado Hairstreak: A gem from the western U.S.

[Trehopr1]

The Colorado Hairstreak (Hypaurotis crysalus) is quite
a little "gem" amongst western lycaenidae of the U.S.
It was designated the state insect of Colorado in 1996.
It is the ONLY species in the genus and remains one of
montane origins.

Its range covers much of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona,
and Utah; as well as including parts of northern Mexico.
Oak scrubland appears to be its favorite haunts but, only
if your timing is right.

This marvelous pair (below) was wild collected by a friend
in Colorado in 1985 and fortunately they were quite fresh
"hatches" when he found them.

Hard to come by in this condition (in the wild).....

[daveuk]

The Colorado Hairstreak (Hypaurotis crysalus) is quite
a little "gem" amongst western lycaenidae of the U.S.
It was designated the state insect of Colorado in 1996.
It is the ONLY species in the genus and remains one of
montane origins.

Its range covers much of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona,
and Utah; as well as including parts of northern Mexico.
Oak scrubland appears to be its favorite haunts but, only
if your timing is right.

This marvelous pair (below) was wild collected by a friend
in Colorado in 1985 and fortunately they were quite fresh
"hatches" when he found them.

Hard to come by in this condition (in the wild).....

This Brit has always considered this to be the most magnificent of all the North American butterflies. Thank You for sharing a picture of these gorgeous specimens trehopr.

[58chevy]

I agree with Dave. My son lives in CO and I've been hoping to catch some of these. No luck yet. I seem to always visit at the wrong time.

[evra]

They are a pain in the neck to collect, quite literally. They sit at the very top of 25’ tall oak trees and fight with each other. When looking up at them from underneath, they aren’t purple, but instead look like a blue in the genus Celestrina flying around. So they are very very easy to miss or mistake for something else. The first one I ever caught was at 2 AM at a blacklight when I set up lights underneath a bunch of oak trees in the Chiricahuas. Most of the time I have to swing a super long-handled net at them and get very lucky to catch one.

[MikeH]

Gotta find shorter trees I caught one on my very first collecting trip with my homemade clothes hangar and window screen net in Utah where the trees are shorter.

I've found it in some pretty marginal habitats and it seems to be good at colonizing new patches of trees, in Utah at least. Has it ever been found in the small patches of food plant in extreme western Oklahoma or Texas? Might be fun to go look and maybe get a state record.

[bobw]

I'm sure that Neominois did a video about collecting this species in the other forum, but I can't seem to find it now.

[MikeH]

I'm sure that Neominois did a video about collecting this species in the other forum, but I can't seem to find it now.

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https://collector-secret.proboards.com/ ... s-colorado