Small Copper

• The males are fiercely territorial: they perch on a high point and shoot out at any passing insect, including butterflies far larger than themselves.
• It has one of the widest distributions of any butterfly in the world: it occupies Europe, Asia, North Africa and much of North America.
• Summer generations tend to be darker than spring ones, a change linked to the temperature during the development of the chrysalis.
• It is tiny but striking: the forewings are a bright coppery orange with black spots, and the male aggressively defends a small sunny territory from which he flies out to intercept everything that passes, including butterflies far larger than himself.
• It has several generations a year, and the late-summer ones tend to be darker: the temperature during the development of the chrysalis determines the intensity of the black.
• It is one of the most widely distributed butterflies in the world, present on three continents.
• The caterpillar is green and slug-like, with a retractable head, an appearance very different from that of a typical caterpillar and one common throughout the lycaenid family.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)

Habitat and environment

Dry meadows, wasteland, verges and disturbed ground

Size at birth

Caterpillar of 1.5 mm on hatching, reaching 15 mm; the chrysalis measures about 10 mm

Sexual maturity

Two to three generations a year in Europe, a single one in northern Scandinavia and five or more in the Canary Islands and North Africa

Gestation / incubation

The pupa lasts 3 to 4 weeks; the caterpillars of the last generation spend more than 6 months of winter fastened to the food plant by a silk pad

Litter / clutch size

The eggs are laid one by one on the leaves of sorrel (Rumex acetosa and R. acetosella), preferably on plants in full sun

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (en): Lycaena phlaeas · UK Butterflies, ficha Small Copper · First Nature · Wildlife Insight, ficha Small Copper · UK Butterflies · Learn Butterflies · Mass Audubon, atlas de mariposas, ficha American Copper · Learn Butterflies, ficha Small Copper

Best time: Spring to autumn, with several generations a year