Sandia hairstreak
The Sandia hairstreak is a small gold and green butterfly. It lives among beargrass plants, and its colours help it blend in perfectly. It is the state butterfly of New Mexico in the United States.
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Fun facts
It was discovered in 1958 near Albuquerque by a student called Noel McFarland.
Its caterpillars are pink, lavender and white.
In May the caterpillar crawls into the dead leaves under its plant and turns into a chrysalis. The butterfly only comes out the next spring.
New Mexico chose it partly because children love butterflies and can easily find this one.
Unlike many other hairstreaks, its wings have no little tails.
Most asked questions about Sandia hairstreak
?Where does the Sandia hairstreak live?
In dry desert hills of the south-western United States and north-eastern Mexico, wherever beargrass grows.
?What does the Sandia hairstreak eat?
Its caterpillars eat beargrass flowers and fruit, and the butterflies drink nectar from the same plant.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Callophrys mcfarlandi
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Lycaenidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Sandia hairstreak (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 Bill Bouton. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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