Great Purple Hairstreak or Great Blue Hairstreak, Atlides halesus

This beautiful little butterfly grows up on Mistletoe and lives for less than a month.In areas where there are native Oaks, Sycamores and Cottonwoods containing Mistletoe there can be large numbers of this Hairstreak. Areas without the native trees and their mistletoe, no Great Purples.  Great Purple Hairstreak is native to many of the southern states, Southern Oregon, California, Southern Nevada, and Arizona, across and up the coast to New York.

I love corny quotes, "The origin of the name "Great Purple Hairstreak" is hazy. But when this tropically oriented beauty kisses the sky with it's brilliant blue topside, you will soar as high as Jimi Hendrix's music." Jeffrey Glassberg, Butterflies through Binoculars, The West.