Beautiful Common Copper Lycaena Phlaeas Butterfly. Royalty-Free Stock Photo

phlaeas, the small copper, American copper, or common copper, is a butterfly of the Lycaenids or gossamer-winged butterfly family. According to Guppy and Shepard 2001, its specific name phlaeas is said to be derived either from the Greek phlego, `to burn up` or from the Latin floreo, `to flourish`The upperside forewings are a bright orange with a dark outside edge border and with eight or nine black spots. The hindwings are dark with an orange border. Some females also have a row of blue spots inside the orange border and are known as form caeruleopunctata. The undersides are patterned in a similar way but are paler. The black spots on the forewings are outlined in yellow and the dark colouring is replaced by a pale brownish grey.