Size:
Wingspan is 3/4 - 1 1/4 inches.

Similar Species:
Spring Azure
Summer Azure

Habitat:
Pocosins, swamps, marshes, maritime forests, thickets, bottomlands and wet edges.

Range/Abundance:
Common in the eastern coastal plain of NC, SC and VA in spring. Not recorded in WV.

Flight Period:
Adults fly from early March until late April in a single brood.

Larval Host Plants:
American Holly Ilex opaca and perhaps other hollies. Also Virginia-willow Itea virginica in VA.

Comments:
The best way to tell Atlantic Holly Azure is the habitat. Spring Azures are found around sites with Flowering Dogwood and Atlantic Holly Azures are found in pocosins and swamps with lots of American Holly and no dogwoods.

Sometimes you can find large numbers at puddle parties in damp sand.

These photos were taken in Pender Co., NC on March 23, 2001.

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