Northern azure
Celastrina lucia
The northern azure is a small blue butterfly from eastern North America. Another of its names, spring azure, tells you it flies in spring. Males and females look different from each other.
Lives in
Eastern North America, from the Maritimes down the Appalachian Mountains to West Virginia
Wingspan
2.2 to 3.5 cm (0.87 to 1.4 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
The butterflies drink nectar. The caterpillars eat blueberry plants.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
🍚wings as wide as 6 grains of rice in a row⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 34 seconds
How big is Northern azure compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
Northern azure about 11 km/h (6.8 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its wings are only about 2 to 3.5 centimetres from tip to tip.
2
It flies from April to July.
3
Until the 1990s, scientists thought all North American azures were one single kind. Now we know there are many.
you asked
Most asked questions about Northern azure
?What does the northern azure eat?
The butterflies drink nectar, and the caterpillars eat blueberry plants.
?Is the northern azure dangerous?
No. It is a small, harmless butterfly.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Celastrina lucia
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Lycaenidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Lucia azure, Eastern spring azure, Northern spring azure
Where the facts come from
- Celastrina lucia (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by D. Gordon E. Robertson. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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