Hessel's Hairstreak (Callophrys hesseli)

Taxonomy

Domain	Eukarya
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Arthropoda
Subphylum	Hexapoda
Class	Insecta
Subclass	Pterygota
Infraclass	Neoptera
Superorder	Holometabola
Order	Lepidoptera
Superfamily	Papilionoidea
Family	Lycaenidae
Subfamily	Theclinae
Tribe	Eumaeini
Genus	Mitoura

Scientific Name

Mitoura hesseli

Common Name

Hessel's Hairstreak

Maier, C.T.; Lemmon, C.R.; Fengler, J.M.; Schweitzer, D.F.; Reardon, R.C.; Caterpillars on the Foliage of Conifers in the Northeastern United States. Morgantown, WV. USDA Forest Service. Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. FHTET-2004-01. March 2004. 151 p.

Description

Slug-like, densely hairy, dark green body with head usually retracted into thorax and with rows of pale bars or spots. Yellowish white middorsal stripe; row of white and yellow oblique subdorsal bars. Indistinct, broken, greenish yellow spiracular stripe; fragmented, yellow and white subventral stripe. Up to 15 mm.

Food

Atlantic white-cedar.

Life Cycle

Two generations (second one is partial). Pupa overwinters in debris. Mature caterpillar present from June to September.

Comments

The second generation of Hessel's hairstreak may be overlooked because it usually is small. In a coastal swamp in Connecticut, this species has a small second flight of adults every year. Hessel's hairstreak previously was known as Mitoura hesseli.