Bug FAQAppalachian Azure
Celastrina neglectamajor · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Lycaenidae
Also called: Appalachian blue
The Appalachian azure is a small blue butterfly with a wingspan of about 2.8 to 3.6 cm. It lives in moist, shaded deciduous woodlands of the central and southern Appalachians, often near streams where males gather at mud puddles. Its caterpillars feed only on the flowers of black cohosh, and adults are on the wing from mid-May to late June.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Males have light blue upperwings with a narrow dark edge line on the forewing. The underside is chalky white with small pale dark spots.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults have a wingspan of 1.1 to 1.4 inches (2.8 to 3.6 cm).
Source: Wikipedia
How to get rid of it
Their habitat may be threatened by the invasive garlic mustard and by harvesting of black cohosh for supplements.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
Males often form groups near mud puddles by these streams.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Larvae are specialists that eat only the flowers of black cohosh (Actaea racemosa).
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
They appear after the spring azure and before the summer azure, giving them a distinct flight period.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
They are temporally separated from similar azure species, reducing confusion with spring and summer azures.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 15 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What does the Appalachian azure look like?
Males have light blue upperwings with a narrow dark edge line and a chalky white underside dotted with small pale spots.
Source: Wikipedia
What plants do the caterpillars eat?
The larvae feed only on the flowers of black cohosh.
Source: Wikipedia
Where do they live?
They inhabit moist, shaded deciduous woodlands and streamside areas in the central and southern Appalachians.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Lycaenidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_azure
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-25 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-25.