Lycaena heteronea rava
 
The blue copper, also known as Lycaena heteronea, is an American butterfly that belongs to the gossamer-winged family. It is bright blue in color. The butterfly is named so because of the bright blue hue of the upper side of the wings of males. Females are brown on their upper side, however both sexes have white colored wings on the underside with black spots. Blue coppers are seen on the western coast of the United States and the Southwest region in Canada, particularly British Columbia and Alberta. The males are often confused with Boisduval’s blue, another species of butterfly. Blue coppers prefer to live in areas where species of Eriogonum are found. Blue copper larvae sometimes form mutualistic associations with Formica francoeuri, an ant species. The blue copper is part of the family Lycaenidae and the subfamily Lycaeninae.Typically, coppers are orange-red to brown with a copper tint to it. The upper wing surface of the males are sky blue with dark veins. For females, the upper wing side has more of a copper like color with black dots. The wings are outlined in white. Both the male and female undersides are white, but can have hues that are off-white, with brown-black dots on the forewing. Blue coppers have a wingspan of 29 to 35 mm. Blue coppers are in flight season from April to August, but they vary in different parts of North America. In British Columbia, adults take flight from April to July and in Alberta July to August. Males are in search for food, whereas females are looking for host plants. Which suggests that males are inadvertently going to be around the offspring. The butterfly is found in North America. In Canada, it is found specifically in southern British Columbia and Alberta. In the United States, it can be seen in west coast states such as Washington, California, and Nevada to as far as Colorado and New Mexico. Blue coppers are fond of buckwheat and this strong preference leads to distribution of the species over wider-areas than expected.