Karner Blue

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Karner Blue

Endangered

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Lycaeides
Species:	L. melissa
Subspecies:	L. m. samuelis

Trinomial name

Lycaeides melissa samuelis

The Karner Blue, Lycaeides melissa samuelis, is a small, blue butterfly found in small areas of New Jersey, the Great Lakes region, southern New Hampshire, and the Capital District region of New York. The butterfly, whose lifecycle depends on the wild blue lupine flower, is classified as an endangered species. Local conservation efforts, concentrating on replanting large areas of blue lupine which have been lost to development (and to fire suppression, which destroys the open, sandy habitat required by blue lupine), are having modest success at encouraging the butterfly's repopulation. The Karner Blue, (Lycaeides melissa samuelis), is the official state butterfly of New Hampshire. The Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin is home to the world's largest population of Karner Blues, who benefit from its vast acreage of savannah and extensive lupine.

The Karner Blue was first identified and named by novelist and lepidopterist Vladimir Nabokov. The name originates from Karner, the former name of Guilderland, New York, where it was first discovered. Lupine blooms in late May. There are two generations of Karner Blues per year. The first in late May to mid June. The second from mid-July to mid-August.