Bog Copper (Butterflies of Fundy National Park of Canada / Les papillons du parc national du Canada Fundy)

Bog Copper

Lycaena epixanthe

Summary ²

The Bog Copper or Cranberry-Bog Copper (Lycaena epixanthe (=Epidemia epixanthe)) is a North American butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. Adults like to sip drops of dew clinging to leaves and almost exclusively nectar on their host plant, cranberries. Because of this, Bog Coppers will spend their entire lives within the area of a single acid bog. Even though their flight is weak and close to the ground, Bog Coppers are hard to catch because of the...

Distribution ³

occurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

Habitat ⁴

Comments: Found most typically in acid bogs with cranberries and other heath family plants (e.g. Opler, 1992), but not really limited to bogs. Also typical of fens that have cranberry. In some areas such as the New Jersey Pine Barrens it can occur in a variety of acid wet situations, generally with a lot of Sphagnum moss including ditches, infrequently mowed wet meadows, and wet burn scars. Habitats may have some trees but are mainly open. Some habitats at least from southern Maine to New Jersey are very wet acid sedge meadows with cranberry between the sedges rather than true bogs.. Soils or Sphagnum must be saturated or nearly so most or all of the year. While cranberry can grow well on fairly mesic sites, bog coppers do not occupy such habitats. Usually excluded from commercial cranberry bogs by insecticides.

Migration ⁵

Non-Migrant: No. All populations of this species make significant seasonal migrations.

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

Flowering plants visited by lycaena epixanthe in illinois ⁶

Lycaena epixanthe Boisduval & LeConte: Lycaenidae, Lepidoptera
(this observation is from F.R. Cole; this is the Bog Copper)

Orchidaceae: Calopogon tuberosus exp np
Insect activities:
exp = explores the flower, but acquires neither nectar nor pollen
np = non-pollinating

Behaviour ⁷

Males perch for females (Scott, 1986).

National nature serve conservation status ⁸

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N4 - Apparently Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N4 - Apparently Secure

Threats ⁹

Degree of Threat: Medium

Comments: Habitat subject to peat mining in Maine (Opler, pers. comm.). Known threats include fire, pesticides, succession, storm floods, and beaver damming which eradicates local populations (Schweitzer, pers. obs.), however these are serious threats only where species occurs as isolated colonies.

Taxonomy ¹⁰

Comments: Some workers recognize subspecies but none are treated separately in this database since they differ in little except wing color and size. The typical subspecies is the southeastern one (New Jersey into eastern New England) with a high frequency of yellow ventral hindwings, but substantial populations also have the more normal gray color as a significant minority form. Subspecies phaedra is essentially populations that are normal size but have the gray morph fixed at 100%. There appear to be no ecological differences involved.

Sources and Credits

More Info

Range Map

iNaturalist.ca Map

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Bog Copper

Summary 2

Distribution 3

Habitat 4

Migration 5

Flowering plants visited by lycaena epixanthe in illinois 6

Behaviour 7

National nature serve conservation status 8