Eastern Tailed-Blue Everes comyntas

Often qualifies for the commonest butterfly on any walk in the summer in the east. Loves to puddle in masses with sulphurs and other butterflies. Sometimes seen in the hundreds in one good mud hole. Females are dark gray above and the males are a flashy blue. Sexes are similarly spotted on the outside. Azures have no orange markings and lack the long tails of the Tailed-Blue. Otherwise distinctive in most of the east.

The male interior which is really worth staring into for prolonged periods.

The male interior again in 2011 in the Round Mountain meadow in April.

The female interior which is well, slightly beat up here and puts one in the mind of chocolate I suppose.

The Cassius Blue, Leptotes cassius, from Panama which also occurs in TX and FL. Note the banding and this is similar to the Marine Blue, Leptotes marina, which is common in the SW and TX. Several of the southern blues are present all the way into the Central American tropics. .