About Celastrina ladon (Cramer, 1782)
Celastrina ladon, commonly known as the spring azure or echo blue, is a butterfly species belonging to the family Lycaenidae. Its distribution spans North America: it ranges from Alaska and Canada south of the tundra through most of the United States, excluding the Texas coast, southern plain, and the Florida peninsula. It extends south through mountain ranges to Colombia, and is also found on Molokai island, Hawaii. After Eliot & Kawazoe published a 1983 monograph on the Lycaenopsis group of lycaenid genera, some taxonomic authorities have reclassified C. ladon as a subspecies of Celastrina argiolus (Linnaeus, 1758). Other taxonomic authorities still recognize C. ladon, along with its related species C. neglecta and C. serotina, as full separate species. The wingspan of this butterfly ranges from 22 to 35 millimetres, which equals 0.87 to 1.38 inches. Adults have metallic blue wings; females have a black margin on their wings. The undersides of the wings are white with small speckles.
