Bug FAQEastern Tailed-Blue
Everes comyntas · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Lycaenidae
The Eastern Tailed-Blue is a small butterfly about 2 to 3 cm across when its wings are open. Males show bright blue uppersides, while females are lighter blue, brown or charcoal, and both sexes have two or three chevron-shaped spots on the hindwing with a small tail. It lives in sunny open areas across eastern North America down to Central America, and also appears in parts of the western U.S. where it was likely introduced.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The hindwings bear two or three black-to-orange chevron spots, the outermost often faint, and a small tail extends from the innermost spot.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Wingspan ranges from 21 to 29 mm (about 0.8 to 1.1 inches).
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
Found in sunny, open habitats. The Great Plains separate it from the less common western tailed-blue.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Caterpillars eat seeds, flowers, and sometimes leaves of legumes such as vetches and clover. Larvae secrete a substance that attracts ants.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Larvae feed on legumes and produce a secretion that ants like. Ants guard the larvae from predators.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Common throughout eastern North America and extends south into Central America. Also occurs in central California and parts of Oregon and Washington, likely after accidental human introduction.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
The Great Plains act as a boundary between this species and the similar western tailed-blue.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 49 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Illinois, Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New York.
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 (Lycaenidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_tailed-blue
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.