• Butterflies
• Dragonflies
• Damselflies
• Tiger beetles
• Hike with Mike

• The butterflies:
• Gossamer-wing Butterflies
  • Harvesters
  • Coppers
  • Hairstreaks
  • Blues
• Coppers
  • American Copper
  • Gray Copper
  • Bronze Copper
  • Bog Copper
  • Dorcas Copper
  • Purplish Copper

Bog Copper

(Lycaena epixanthe)

The Bog Copper is the smallest Copper found in Wisconsin. It is found exclusively in bogs where wild cranberry, its host plant grows. It is a very weak flier and typically flies very low to the ground in the wettest parts of the bog. My first encounter with this species was in 2004, when I saw them at two sites relatively late in the season. Notice that the butterflies in the photos are fairly worn and lack the bright colors that more newly emerged indivivuals would have.

Identifying characteristics: The male above is brown with a purplish sheen on fresh specimens, a larger spot in the middle of the upper wing, and several smaller spots (second photo on the right). The female (third photo on the right)has many more spots and usually the spots are all similar in size. Below, the ground color is pale with a reddish submarginal zigzag pattern on the hind wing.

Similar species: The Purplish Copper and the Dorcas Copper are very similar to the Bog Copper. They are best told apart by viewing the upper wings of the Bog Copper, which has far fewer spots than either the Purplish or the Dorcas Coppers. It is also somewhat smaller, but this is difficult to tell in the field. The ground color below of the Bog Copper is somewhat variable, but is lacking in the orange tinge that is usually present, at least on the front wing, on Purplish and Dorcas Coppers.

Habitat: Acid bogs where cranberries are present.

Flight: One brood from the end of June through July.

Abundance: Found in scattered locations throughout northern Wisconsin. This species, like many species that are limited to a very specific habitat, may become abundant where it is found.

Recent Bog Copper Sightings

Date seen	County	Reported by
07–13–2008	Wood	Ron Arnold

Submit a Bog Copper sighting »