I enjoy living in sunny, open areas because they provide the perfect conditions to sustain my caterpillar’s favorite meal- the wild blue lupine flower (Lupinus perennis). In fact, my caterpillar’s like this plant so much that they refuse to eat anything else. Needless to say survivorship of our species depends greatly upon the lupine flower.
What do we look like?
The Karner Blue caterpillar is bright green with a darker green line running down the back.
The Male Karner Blue has inner wings that are purplish-blue color and lined with a white border around the edge.
The Female Karner Blue is slightly larger than the male and it has a grayish-brown color with a patch of blue on the topside. The underside of both, male and females is gray with orange dots along the border of the forewings and hindwings.
We typically have two new generations per year. One generation emerges from late May to June and the second one from late July to August. Adult Karner Blues are known to live from 4-5 days and up to 2-3 weeks.
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