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Great Purple Hairstreak
Atlides halesus
32.6224, -92.6115
Field Notes
Description:
Small butterfly, about the size of a quarter, the incandescent blue color is very striking on this example of the species, especially in the sunlight. The brown and black eyespots on its upper wings, and the checkered patches and tails on its lower wings really helped in the identification. It's really a beautiful butterfly.
Habitat:
It is actually a Neotropical species; its North American range only includes the warm-temperate and subtropical parts of that continent, and it ranges southwards almost to the Isthmus of Panama. The type specimen, however, was shipped to Europe from the Colony of Virginia, probably around the time of the United States Declaration of Independence.
Habitat description from Encyclopedia of Life
Notes:
Found it dead on my front porch, it took me two days of searching to get an id.
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