Eastern Tailed-blue Butterfly

I thought I'd captured this little butterfly in the midst of coitus as its trailing tails move quite vigorously in the afternoon breezes. . . and to the naked eye it appears that what one is seeing is two butterflies, inverted atop one another. That is not what I was seeing.

This is the Eastern Tailed-blue Butterfly (Cupido comyntas) or (Everes comyntas).



These images were taken over three days as I walked through a field of White Sweet Clover (Melilotus alba) in the evenings. The butterflies are in more or less the same spot every day. They are about as big as the end of my index finger. . . but I haven't had the correct lens with me so that I could stick my finger in the shot for scale. They are tiny and would go unnoticed unless one was searching for them.

Below: Her head is pointing down. . . the trailing tails are pointing up. . . making it appear as if the tail end is another head. I suspect this is an evolutionary adaptation against predation.



According to the literature this butterfly species should not be in this part of Florida. While it is common across eastern North America the literature indicates that it is rarely found so far south on the Florida peninsula.



Males are generally blue on the upperside of their wings while females are lighter blue to brown or charcoal in coloring, but there are also varieties of purple and pink found in both sexes. The underside coloration ranges from bluish-white to tan. There are two or three (outermost one often faint) black to orange chevron-shaped spots on the rear of the hind wings and a trailing tail off the innermost of the spots. The butterfly is 21 to 29 mm (13⁄16 to 1 and 1⁄8 inches) wide with wings outstretched and slightly shorter in length.

All of the images of what I suspect to be male individuals were washed out from the afternoon sun (overexposure). These images are all likely females.



They prefer legumes and that's why I'm seeing them in the fields of clover. I have to wonder where they'll go as the clover dies out. It is already looking quite sad from the weeks without rain and temperatures in the 90°s F. (32°+ C.).



The butterfly secretes a substance which is favored by some ant species. The ant in turn protects the larva of the butterfly from other predators. I'll take a closer look this weekend to see if I can find any of the tiny larvae that must be somewhere in the clover.

These are gossamer winged butterflies. . . but I could not capture them in flight. They move so quickly I get mostly a blur of color. Below is a file photo of what the male looks like with outstretched wings.