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Bronze Copper - Tharsalea hyllus
Native Species
Global Rank:
G5
State Rank:
S5
Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
BLM:
External Links
General Description
[From Ferris and Brown 1981; Scott 1986; Opler and Wright 1999; Glassberg 2001] Forewing 1.6-2.1 cm. Uppersurface of male iridescent orangish-purple with broad orange marginal band on hindwing, female forewing yellow-orange with black spots, hindwing with a broad paler-orange marginal band. Undersurface of forewing for both sexes orange with black spots, hindwing undersurface gray-white with black spots and broad orange marginal band with small black spots at inner and outer margins.
Phenology
Two flights in most of range, mid-June to mid July and mid-August to mid-September; one flight in north and at higher elevation in Colorado, mid-July to mid-August (Scott 1986). Mostly June to early July and August to early September, in Kansas and Nebraska mid-May to September, in Saskatchewan early July to early August (Glassberg 2001). In south-central Colorado, one flight in mountains late July to late August, two flights in plains early June to late July and mid-August to early October (Scott and Scott 1978).
Diagnostic Characteristics
Best determined by the forewing undersurface for both sexes orange with black spots, hindwing undersurface gray-white with black spots and broad orange marginal band with small black spots at inner and outer margins.
Species Range
Montana Range
Range Descriptions
Native
Range Comments
Southern Canada and the Great Lakes states south to Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, West Virginia, Maryland, and west across boreal Canada to extreme northeastern British Columbia, Alberta, Montana, extreme eastern Idaho, eastern Colorado, with an isolated population in Utah (Scott 1986; Opler and Wright 1999; Glasberg 2001; Guppy and Shepard 2001); 1310 m to 2438 m elevation in Colorado, but usually below 1800 m (Brown 1957; Scott and Scott 1978; Ferris and Brown 1981). Locally rare to locally uncommon in the west (Glassberg 2001). Spreading west of continental divide in agricultural areas and wetlands (Opler and Wright 1999).
Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 5
(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version)
Map Help and Descriptions
Relative Density
Recency
(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)
Migration
Non-migratory.
Habitat
Open areas with low vegetation in or near marshes, bogs, wet meadows, seeps, lake shores, river flood plains (Brown 1957; Scott 1986; Opler and Wright 1999; Glassberg 2001). In Glacier National Park, Montana, reported from xeric montane meadows (Debinski 1993), wet meadows in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (Debinski and Pritchard 2002).
National Vegetation Classification System Groups Associated with this Species
Wetland and Riparian
Alkaline - Saline Wetlands
Alpine Riparian and Wetland
Peatland
Riparian and Wetland Forest
Riparian Shrubland
Wet Meadow and Marsh
Food Habits
Larval food plants include Polygonum coccineum and several species of Rumex (Ferris and Brown 1981; Scott 1986, 1992, 2006). Adults feed on flower nectar, including Apocynum, Asclepias, Bidens, Carduus, Cirsium, Helianthus, Heliopsis, Polygonum, Solidago, Symphyotrichum, and Verbena (Scott 2014).
Reproductive Characteristics
Females lay eggs singly on host plant leaves (dead leaves if host plant growing in water), petioles, seeds, and in litter at base of host plant; eggs overwinter (hibernate). Larvae eat host leaves, build no nest (Scott 1979, 1986, 1992). Males perch throughout the day low to the ground along streams and on prominent vegetation in or near meadows where larval host plant abundant while waiting for passing females (Scott 1975b, 1986).
Stewardship Responsibility
References
- Literature Cited AboveLegend:
View Online Publication
Brown, F.M. 1957. Colorado Butterflies. Proceedings; Numbers Three through Seven. Denver Museum of Natural History, Denver, Co.- Debinski, D. 1993. Butterflies of Glacier National Park, Montana. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural History, the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. No. 159: 1-13.
- Debinski, D.M. and J.A. Pritchard. 2002. A field guide to the butterflies of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Lanham, MD: Roberts Rinehart Publishers. 107 p.
- Ferris, C.D. and F.M. Brown (eds). 1981. Butterflies of the Rocky Mountains. Univ. of Oklahoma Press. Norman. 442 pp.
- Glassberg, J. 2001. Butterflies through Binoculars: A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Western North America. Oxford University Press.
- Guppy, C.S. and J.H. Shepard. 2001. Butterflies of British Columbia: including western Alberta, southern Yukon, the Alaska Panhandle, Washington, northern Oregon, northern Idaho, northwestern Montana. UBC Press (Vancouver, BC) and Royal British Columbia Museum (Victoria, BC). 414 pp.
- Opler, P.A. and A.B. Wright. 1999. A field guide to western butterflies. Second edition. Peterson Field Guides. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. 540 pp.
- Scott, J.A. 1975b. Mate-locating behavior of western North American butterflies. Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 14:1-40.
- Scott, J.A. 1979. Hibernal diapause of North American Papilionoidea and Hesperioidea. Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 18(3): 171-200.
- Scott, J.A. 1986. The butterflies of North America: a natural history and field guide. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.
- Scott, J.A. 1992. Hostplant records for butterflies and skippers (mostly from Colorado) 1959-1992, with new life histories and notes on oviposition, immatures, and ecology. Papilio new series #6. 185 p.
- Scott, J.A. 2006. Butterfly hostplant records, 1992-2005, with a treatise on the evolution of Erynnis, and a note on new terminology for mate-locating behavior. Papilio new series #14. 74 p.
- Scott, J.A. 2014. Lepidoptera of North America 13. Flower visitation by Colorado butterflies (40,615 records) with a review of the literature on pollination of Colorado plants and butterfly attraction (Lepidoptera: Hersperioidea and Papilionoidea). Contributions of the C.P. Gillette Museum of Arthopod Diversity. Fort Collins, CO: Colorado State University. 190 p.
- Scott, J.A. and G.R. Scott. 1978. Ecology and distribution of the butterflies of southern central Colorado. Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 17(2): 73-128.
- Additional ReferencesLegend: View Online Publication
Do you know of a citation we're missing?- Allen, T.J., J.P. Brock, and J. Glassberg. 2005. Caterpillars in the field and garden: a field guide to the butterfly caterpillars of North America. Oxford University Press.
- Brock, J.P. and K. Kaufman. 2003. Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, NY 284 pp.
- Caruthers, J.C., and D. Debinski. 2006. Montane meadow butterfly species distributions in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. University of Wyoming National Park Service Research Center Annual Report, 2006. Vol. 30, Art. 14. 85-96.
- Debinski, D. M. 1991. Inventory and monitoring of biodiversity: an assessment of methods and a case study of Glacier National Park, MT. Ph.D. Dissertation. Montana State University, Bozeman. 205 p.
- Debinski, D.M., R.E. VanNimwegen, and M.E. Jakubauskas. 2006. Quantifying relationships between bird and butterfly community shifts and environmental change. Ecological Applications 16(1): 380-393.
- Forister, M.L., C.A. Halsch, C.C. Nice, J.A. Fordyce, T.E. Dilts, J.C. Oliver, K.L. Prudic, A.M. Shapiro, J.K. Wilson, J. Glassberg. 2021. Fewer butterflies seen by community scientists across the warming and drying landscapes of the American West. Science 371:1042-1045.
- Forister, M.L., E.M. Grames, C.A. Halsch, K.J. Burls, C.F. Carroll, K.L. Bell, J.P. Jahner, et al. 2023. Assessing risk for butterflies in the context of climate change, demographic uncertainty, and heterogeneous data sources. Ecological Monographs 93(3):e1584. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.1584
- Kohler, S. 1980. Checklist of Montana Butterflies (Rhopalocera). Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 34(1): 1-19.
- Layberry, R.A., P.W. Hall, and J.D. LaFontaine. 1998. The Butterflies of Canada. University of Toronto Press. 280 pp. + color plates.
- Stanford, R.E. and P.A. Opler. 1993. Atlas of western USA butterflies: including adjacent parts of Canada and Mexico. Unpubl. Report. Denver and Fort Collins, Colorado 275 pp.
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