Ceraunus Blue and Cassius Blue butterflies on this page. When their wings are closed these butterflies are about the size of your thumbnail (or smaller if you have big thumbs). At the bottom of the page is a gray hairstreak which is a slightly larger butterfly with somewhat similar coloring.
Page 2 of 5

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The Ceraunus Blue butterfly has a large spot on the edge of its wing that is bluish in color and has an orange ring around it.
[The butterfly is perched on the tip of a weed facing downward. Its wings are folded up showing a pattern of light and dark spots and white vee marks on a tan background. There is a (relatively) large black spot with a light blue speck at the top of it and an orange ring around it. The antennas are striped light and dark with white-tipped dark section at the top. The legs are all white.]

From the back with its wings folded up this Ceraunus Blue butterfly is barely noticeable on the fogfruit flower.
[The butterfly is perched in the middle of the flower with tiny flowers on either side of it. The butterfly looks like a small this wedge of grey paper.]

This is what a male Ceraunus Blue butterfly wings look like on the inside.
[The butterfly is perched on a fogfruit flower and has its wings open such that one wing is completely visible while the other is a straight-on view and thus only appears as a sliver. The wings are very blue with grey edging and a black dot which is the reverse side of the dark spot on the other side of the wing.]

The female Ceraunus Blue butterfly has more brown than blue on the inside.
[The butterfly is perched on a blade of grass and has its wings open such that all of the left wings are visible while the right wings are less visible due to the slant of the wing. The wings are mostly brown with slivers of blue around the body and radiating out through the wings. The edges appear white (due to the color contrast) and the dots on the outer edges of the wings (the reverse side of the dark spots on the outer wings) are a very dark brown.]

This Ceraunus Blue butterfly has a chunk of upper wing missing on the left.
[The butterfly is perched on greenery with its wings fully open. The wings are a silvery-blue with grey edging except for the area on the upper right wing (left side of image) for which it appears something took a bit of it and its missing.]

However, its wings are translucent so the outside markings can be seen on the inside when the light hits the wings from the side.
[The butterfly is perched on a leaf with its wings in a vee above the body. The outside of the near wing and the inside of the far wing are visible. Rather than being a solid color, the inside of the wing appears to have white dashes on it.]

This is a zoomed out view of the prior image to give a sense of just how small this butterfly is.
It is the splotch of blue on the right side of the sycamore leaf. [The butterfly is only about one tenth the size (or less) of the dried leaf sitting in the grass.]

These two are end to end working on creating new little butterflies.
[Two butterflies on the end of the stem of a sycamore leaf have their back ends touching while their heads are at opposite ends of the coupling. The setting sun lights the edges of their wings to a blinding white.]

This is a Cassius Blue butterfly. It has two dark spots at the edge of its wings.
[The butterfly is perched on the yellow center of a flower with white petals. Its wings are together behind it with the white and brown body sticking out below the wings. It is similar in color and pattern to the Ceranus Blue except there are two dark spots rimmed with light blue and orange, and there is slightly less pattern marks on the wings.]

This Cassius Blue butterfly has a chunk missing from part of its lower wing.
[The butterfly is perched on a small white flower (that actually looks big because the butterfly is so small). Its wings are together behind it with the white and brown body sticking out below the wings. The lower of the two dark spots rimmed with light blue and orange is partially missing along with parts of that wing.]

A view of the inner and outer wings of a Cassius Blue butterfly.
[The butterfly is perched facing downward on a thorny brown branch with coloring similar to the butterfly. The wings are partially open exposing the outer edges of the far side wings. There is a wide band of brown along the outer edge with the inner part being nearly all light grey brown. The inner side of the spots are a dark brown. One has to look very closely to notice any hints of blue on the inner wings in this image.]

A back end view of a Cassius blue butterfly on the left and a straight-on view on the right
[Two photos spliced together. On the left the butterfly faces away from the camera and the wings are together forming a slice above the body with an antenna poking from either side. The antenna have a white tip on the blue-black bulb end. The butterfly is perched on a light red flower with a green stem tip. On the right the butterfly is perched on the white petals of a flower with a yellow center. Its large blck eyes are visible above the tuffs of white on its stomach. The wings are together directly above the head and only a small sliver of pattern is visible on the left side. Its antenna are flopped almost appearing to be another set of legs. ]

Gray Hairstreak butterfly with its distinctive 'tails' visible in both images.
[Two images spliced together of different views of the same butterfly. On the left is a right-side view while the view on the right is a head on image. This butterfly is mostly gray with two sets of white and black striping. At the rear are two orange sections and two extensions that give the appearance of being tails. The 'tails' are black with white tips. The legs and antennas are black and white stripes. In the head on view, the wings are together above the body and the tips of the 'tails' are two white dots appearing to float in the sky.]

The Red-banded Hairstreak butterfly also has the distinctive 'tails', but its red extends the length of all wings and it has a blue spot on the lower part of the rear wings.
[This butterfly faces to the right. It is mostly gray with a band of thin white, thin black, and a wider reddish-orange striping on the back part of the wings. At the rear are black and orange semi-cirles sections on the wings and two extensions that give the appearance of being tails. The 'tails' are black with white tips. The legs and antennas are black and white stripes. ]

Continue to page 3 of 5 to see the "skippers" and "duskywing" butterflies.

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All photos © S. M. Garver