Great Purple Hairstreak; Great Blue Hairstreak Atlides halesus (Cramer) (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)

The great purple hairstreak, Atlides halesus (Cramer), is one of our most beautiful and fascinating southern butterflies. Although its preferred and most frequently used common name is great purple hairstreak (Miller 1992), it does not have any true purple coloring on it. A few publications (Gerber...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Don W. Hall
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries 2021-04-01
Series:EDIS
Online Access:https://journals.flvc.org/edis/article/view/115334
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author Don W. Hall
author_facet Don W. Hall
author_sort Don W. Hall
collection DOAJ
description The great purple hairstreak, Atlides halesus (Cramer), is one of our most beautiful and fascinating southern butterflies. Although its preferred and most frequently used common name is great purple hairstreak (Miller 1992), it does not have any true purple coloring on it. A few publications (Gerberg & Arnett 1989, Emmel 1975, Pyle 1981) use the name great blue hairstreak which is more appropriate. How Atlides halesus came to be known as the great purple hairstreak is a mystery. Pyle (1981) described the female as being purplish-gray below, and Evans (2008) mentioned that that the undersides of the wings have a purplish sheen. Cech and Tudor (2005) stated that the female fades to brownish purple with wear. A humorous tongue-in-cheek explanation for the name great purple hairstreak is given by Kipperling (2013).
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publisher The University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries
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spelling doaj-art-f7f19094dc044cf4a1c5395ab3d950592025-02-08T05:46:11ZengThe University of Florida George A. Smathers LibrariesEDIS2576-00092021-04-0120212Great Purple Hairstreak; Great Blue Hairstreak Atlides halesus (Cramer) (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)Don W. Hall0University of Florida The great purple hairstreak, Atlides halesus (Cramer), is one of our most beautiful and fascinating southern butterflies. Although its preferred and most frequently used common name is great purple hairstreak (Miller 1992), it does not have any true purple coloring on it. A few publications (Gerberg & Arnett 1989, Emmel 1975, Pyle 1981) use the name great blue hairstreak which is more appropriate. How Atlides halesus came to be known as the great purple hairstreak is a mystery. Pyle (1981) described the female as being purplish-gray below, and Evans (2008) mentioned that that the undersides of the wings have a purplish sheen. Cech and Tudor (2005) stated that the female fades to brownish purple with wear. A humorous tongue-in-cheek explanation for the name great purple hairstreak is given by Kipperling (2013). https://journals.flvc.org/edis/article/view/115334
spellingShingle Don W. Hall
Great Purple Hairstreak; Great Blue Hairstreak Atlides halesus (Cramer) (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)
EDIS
title Great Purple Hairstreak; Great Blue Hairstreak Atlides halesus (Cramer) (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)
title_full Great Purple Hairstreak; Great Blue Hairstreak Atlides halesus (Cramer) (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)
title_fullStr Great Purple Hairstreak; Great Blue Hairstreak Atlides halesus (Cramer) (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)
title_full_unstemmed Great Purple Hairstreak; Great Blue Hairstreak Atlides halesus (Cramer) (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)
title_short Great Purple Hairstreak; Great Blue Hairstreak Atlides halesus (Cramer) (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)
title_sort great purple hairstreak great blue hairstreak atlides halesus cramer insecta lepidoptera lycaenidae
url https://journals.flvc.org/edis/article/view/115334
work_keys_str_mv AT donwhall greatpurplehairstreakgreatbluehairstreakatlideshalesuscramerinsectalepidopteralycaenidae