Subject: Interesting Lycaenid Butterfly in ShenZhen
Geographic location of the bug: Shenzhen, China
Your letter to the bugman: Dear bugman,
I came across this butterfly in the specified location. Upon closer inspection, it looks like some of its patterns has faded (see IMG_4434). For example, there seems to be 4 faded spots around the discal area of the hindwing, and I could see extremely faint tints of orange around the black eyespot. I would appreciate your help!
How you want your letter signed: Jonathan
Dear Jonathan,
We have trouble distinguishing different species of Gossamer Winged Butterflies from one another in North America where there are actually very excellent sites devoted to insect identification. There is not the same database for Chinese species. We believe this is most likely a Tailed Blue, but we would not rule out that it might be a Hairstreak. Several similar looking species that we have found on the internet include a Pea Blue, Lampides boeticus, that we found on My Butterfly Collection, and a Silver Forget-Me-Not, Catochrysops panormus, that we found on Butterflies of Singapore.
