Arctic Blue (Agriades glandon [de Prunner])
Wing span: 7/8 - 1 inches (2.2 - 2.6 cm).
Identification: Geographically variable. Upperside of male gray-blue, female orange-brown; both sexes with dark cell spots on both wings. Underside hindwing with postmedian black spots lacking or enclosed by white patches.
Life history: Eggs are laid singly on leaves, bracts, or sepals of the host plant. Caterpillars or chrysalids hibernate.
Flight: One brood from early May to late September, mainly June-August.
Caterpillar hosts: Possibly Diapensia lapponica, Dodecatheon, and Androsace septentionalis.
Adult food: Flower nectar.
Habitat: Bogs, tundra, gravelly hills, alpine fell-fields, and subalpine meadows.
Range: Holarctic. Alaska east to Newfoundland, south through the mountains of the West to Washington, northern Arizona, and northern New Mexico.
