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| This most often encountered Elfin in most of Canada was named after a Canadian Inuit who was called Augustus in the nineteenth-century expedition. The Brown Elfin butterfly is relatively small, with a wingspan of 1.9 - 2.6 cm. With a grey-brown upperside in the male and a more orangey colouration in the female, the underside is pale chestnut brown, with the hindwing slightly darker. Their hind wings do not have tails. Wing edges are lightly scalloped, and usually checkered with black and white. Greenish eggs are laid singly on flower buds of plants such as Labrador Tea and Sugar Huckleberry. The caterpillar is bright green with red and yellow bands and a brownish-gray head. They eat of a wide variety of plants, including Bearberry, Sheep Laurel and Wild Blueberries. They have a honey gland, also known as a dorsal nectary organ, which emits a sugary solution that ants feed on and in turn protect them from predators. This butterfly flies low to the ground and is generally slow in flight. Adult feed on nectar from flowers including Blueberry, Wild Plum, Winter Cress, and Willow. From May-June, you can find the Brown Elfin in bogs, mixed forests and large clearings, almost anywhere where acidic soils predominate. |
Incisalia augustinus
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