American Copper - Alabama Butterfly Atlas

Butterfly: Wingspan 1 - 1¼ inches (2.3 - 2.8 cm) UPPER SURFACE (dorsal) Forewings orange with black spots and dark margins. Hindwing gray brown with orange band along outer margin that contains a row of black spots. UNDER SURFACE (ventral) Light gray with small black spots and red-orange line in outer hindwing.

ID Tip: Ventral forewings are orange and gray with dark spots. Hindwings are gray with dark spots and a thin, jagged orange border.

Egg: Whitish gray; disc-shaped with pits. Deposited singly on host plant.

Caterpillar: Bright green with short white hairs. May be tinged with red or solid red. Possibly the overwintering stage.

Chrysalis: Green or varying shades of brown; often speckled; bean shaped. Possibly the overwintering stage.

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American Coppers have been documented in Alabama's northeast corner. Typically northern butterflies, Alabama represents the southernmost part of their range. Although desirable habitat seems to be abundant, this species tends to be localized, colonial, and absent from many potentially suitable sites.

Male American Coppers are notoriously aggressive in their pursuit of females. They are single-minded in their desire to mate, settling down only to briefly nectar at small flowers. Eternal optimists, they dart from low plant perches to check out any moving object to see if it might be a female. Distinguished lepidopterist Alexander Klots reports that one little guy even buzzed an airplane.

American Copper caterpillars ae highly camouflaged on Sheep Sorrel, their most common host. Young larvae eat holes into the underside of young leaves; older caterpillars chew a distinct channel pattern along the leaf's surface. Chrysalides are often hidden within a leafy structure that caterpillars silk together. The overwintering stage is not known.

American Coppers range throughout the northeastern United States, reaching down into a few southern states.

A dot on the county map indicates that there is at least one documented record of the species within that county. In some cases, a species may be common throughout the county, in others it may be found in only a specific habitat. The High Count information shows the highest numbers recorded for this species as well as when and where they occurred.

The sightings bar graphs depict the timing of flight(s) within each of three geographic regions. Place your cursor on a bar within the graph to see the number of individuals recorded during that period.

The abundance calendar displays the total number of individuals recorded within each week of the month. Both the graphs and the calendar are on based data collection that began in 2000.

The records analyzed here are only a beginning. As more data is collected, these maps and graphs will paint a more accurate picture of distribution and abundance in Alabama. Submit your sightings to albutterflyatlas@gmail.com.

Sightings in the following counties: DeKalb, Jackson, Marshall

Sightings in the past 5 years
Sightings in the past 5 - 10 years
Sightings more than 10 years ago

High count(s):

24 - DeKalb - 7/17/2020
24 - DeKalb - 7/18/2020
12 - DeKalb - 7/14/2020

View county names by moving the mouse over a county or view a map with county names

Jan				Feb				Mar				Apr				May				Jun				Jul				Aug				Sep				Oct				Nov				Dec
1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4
												8	4		1		1		12	10	16	22	2	3	24	61	13	1	3	3	3		3		3				1

Open, disturbed areas that include pastures, fields, meadows, and utility right-of ways.

Members of the Buckthorn family (Polygonnaceae), especially sorrels (Rumex spp.) are reported.

The following has been documented in Alabama:

Sheep Sorrel (Rumex acetosella) - Host Plant

For more information about these plants, please visit the Alabama Plant Atlas using the links above.

If you have a lawn in your landscape, consider letting it be natural. The diverse assemblage of native and nonnative flowering plants and grasses typically found in naturalized lawns provides nectar and host sources for many small butterflies including American Coppers, if they are in the vicinity. Many of the photos of American Coppers included in this account were photographed in a naturalized lawn near fields that contained Sheep Sorrel.

American Copper (Lycaena hypophlaeas) Photos

Click on individual photos to view a larger version that includes photo credits, county, and date.
Photos with comments are indicated by a small, tan dot on the bottom right.