Celastrina ladon, the spring azure or echo blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America from Alaska and Canada south of the tundra, through most of the United States except the Texas coast, southern plain and peninsula Florida; south in the mountains to Colombia, also on Molokai island, Hawaii.
Since the publication of a monograph on the Lycaenopsis group of lycaenid genera in 1983 by Eliot & Kawazoe,, 1983. Blue butterflies of the Lycaenopsis group: 1-309, 6 pls. London. C. ladon has been considered by some taxonomic authorities to be a subspecies of C. argiolus (Linnaeus, 1758). Other authorities still consider C. ladon and related species C. neglecta and C. serotina to be "full" species.Cherry Gall Azure full species status, BugGuide.comSpring Azure, Butterflies of CanadaSpring Azure , Butterflies and Moths of North AmericaSpring Azure, Encyclopedia of LifeCelastrina at Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera
Its wingspan is . The metallic blue wings have a black margin in females. The undersides of the wings are white with speckles.
Similar species Cherry gall azure (C. serotina) Holly azure (C. idella) Lucia azure (C. lucia) Summer azure (C. neglecta)
References