Bug FAQAnna's Blue
Lycaeides anna · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Lycaenidae
Male Anna's Blue butterflies are bluish-white with white wing outlines, while females are brown with faint orange bands and a whitish edge. They are found across North America and have a single summer flight period each year.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Males are bluish-white with white outlines on the wings. Females have brown wings with orange submarginal bands that may be faint or absent, plus a whitish wing outline.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It lives in North America.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
The larvae feed on blueberry, other heaths, and legumes.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
There is one brood that flies during the summer.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults are on the wing in summer.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
It is native to North America.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It looks very similar to the Melissa Blue. It was once considered the same species as the Northern Blue but is now recognized as distinct.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 9 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, Kansas, Colorado, Utah.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
How can I tell a male Anna's Blue from other blues?
Males are a bluish-white color with white outlines on their wings.
Source: Wikipedia
What do female Anna's Blues look like?
Females have brown wings with orange submarginal bands that may be faint or missing, plus a whitish wing edge.
Source: Wikipedia
What plants do the caterpillars eat?
The larvae feed on blueberry, other heaths, and legumes.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Lycaenidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plebejus_anna
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.