Western pygmy blue

Brephidium exilis

Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Brephidium
Species:	B. exilis
Binomial name
*Brephidium exilis* (Boisduval, 1852)^[1]
Synonyms
Lycaena exilis Boisduval, 1852 Lycaena fea Edwards, 1871 Brephidium exilis ab. coolidgei Gunder, 1925 Brephidium exilis yucateca Clench, 1970 Lycaena isophthalma Herrich-Schäffer, 1862 Brephidium barbouri Clench, 1943 Brephidium exilis thompsoni Carpenter & Lewis, 1943

The Western Pygmy Blue (Brephidium exilis or Brephidium exile) is one of the smallest butterflies in the world and is the smallest in North America. It has reached Hawaii, as well as the Persian Gulf, including eastern Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

It has a wingspread of about half an inch.

Subspecies

Brephidium exilis exilis (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Mexico)
Brephidium exilis isophthalma (Herrich-Schäffer, 1862) (New Orleans to Florida, Georgia, Cuba, Bahamas, Grand Cayman)

Images

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Western pygmy blue.

Wikispecies has information related to: Western pygmy blue

↑ Brephidium, Site of Markku Savela

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, November 30, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.