Gray Hairstreak

The tiny Gray Hairsteak (Strymon melinus) butterfly is a wonderfully common butterfly throughout North America but due to its diminutive size it often goes entirely unnoticed. You can often find these tiny gray butterflies basking in the sun.

The top side of this butterfly is a rich blue gray and the hind wings have narrow tails just below a pair of red eyespots. When at rest this butterfly is generally found with its wings folded. The hind wings with their tiny swallowtails are continuously rubbed together so that the tails take on the appearance of moving antenna as distract predators. When a predator strikes at these unnecessary parts of the wing, this small butterfly can escape almost entirely intact.

The underside of the wings are pale gray with white and grey broken lines and red eyespots. The fall and winter forms of this butterfly often have a much darker gray coloring to the underside of their wings.

As caterpillars this species has a variety of hosts to choose from including the pea (Fabaceae) and mallow (Malvaceae) families and can be found eating beans (Phaseolus), clovers (Trifolium), cotton (Gossypium), and mallow (Malva). Young caterpillars can often be found feeding on the fruits and flowers of their host plants and may be attended by ants, which receive a sugary solution from a nectary organ on the caterpillar. Adult butterflies feed on small wildflowers, many of which may be considered common lawn weeds. These butterfly are very commonly found in open, weedy areas.