Colorado State Insect

Colorado Hairstreak Butterfly

(Hypaurotis crysalus)

Adopted in 1996.

Since 1996 The Colorado Hairstreak, Hypaurotis crysalus , has enjoyed designation as State Insect of Colorado. Upon passage, Colorado became the 37th state in the Union to name an official insect. The selection of the Colorado Hairstreak is perhaps the most inspired of all states. That Colorado even has a State Insect is due almost entirely to the efforts of Colorado 4th graders led by Melinda Terry, a teacher at Wheeling Elementary in Aurora, CO. Over the course of several years the effort inched forward, starting with consensus selection of the most appropriate candidate insect. Efforts to get a bill submissioned were met with disappointment in the early stages. Thanks to steady lobbying the Colorado Hairstreak prevailed even deflecting a last-minute effort to substitute the honey bee.

Colorado Revised Statute

The butterfly is two inches in width and has purple wings with black borders, orange accents in the corners and blue on the underside. It may be found on both sides of the Continental Divide at elevations of 6,500 to 7,500 feet, in its usual habitat of scrub oak ecosystems.
 Citation: Senate Bill 122, 1996; Colorado Revised Statute 24-80-913.

Colorado Hairstreak (Hypaurotis crysalus [W. H. Edwards])

Wing span: 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 inches (3.2 - 3.8 cm).

Identification: Hindwing has slender tail. Upperside dark purple with wide dark border and orange spots at lower outer edge of each wing.

Life history: Adults rest in Gambel oaks, and males patrol there for receptive females. Eggs are laid singly on twigs of the host tree, then hibernate. Caterpillars eat young leaves in spring.

Flight: One flight from June-August.

Caterpillar hosts: Leaves of oaks, particularly Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) in the beech family (Fagaceae).

Adult food: Tree sap, raindrops, probably honeydew from aphids and other insects.

Habitat: Oak scrub and oak woodlands.

Range: Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico; north into southern Wyoming, west into eastern Nevada.