Bug FAQPurplish Copper
Lycaena helloides · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Sesiidae
The purplish copper is a Lycaenidae butterfly with a wingspan of about 30 to 38 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Lycaena helloides, called the purplish copper, belongs to the butterfly family Lycaenidae.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Its wingspan ranges between 30 and 38 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Adult butterflies sip nectar from flowers.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The species spends the winter as an egg.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Its native range covers North America from the Great Lakes region westward to British Columbia and southward to Baja California.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 27 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Idaho, California, Colorado, Utah, Michigan, Washington, Illinois, Wyoming.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Same family (Sesiidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycaena_helloides
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.