Description
The Bog Copper (Tharsalea epixanthe) is a small butterfly with dusky pinkish-brown wings and faint black spots, and a pale gray underside with subtle black markings, commonly found in acidic bogs and wetlands across northeastern North America, where it relies on cranberry plants as a larval host. Not the easiest species to find in Minnesota. The first image is from a bog in Massachusetts, and the other two are from Sax-Zim Bog in northern Minnesota.
Range
Northeastern Minnesota. There’s also a population in the western Twin Cities suburbs in a remnant bog.
Similar Species
Dorcas copper and bog copper are similar. Bog is smaller and doesn’t have the purplish sheen below that Dorcas and Purplish have.
Host Plants
Cranberries
Flight
July