This week marks the beginning of the main Hairstreak season in Vermont (except for the early season Juniper & Early Haristreaks). As you get ready to look for these tailed grey butterflies - see if you can spot the difference between these two species.
Which of these butterflies is a Striped Hairstreak?
Click here to reveal the answer to this weeks’ quiz!
The butterfly on the left is the Striped Hairstreak. The butterfly on the right is the closely related Hickory Hairstreak.
These are two of the five Satyrid Hairstreaks of Vermont. The easiest way to tell the two species apart is by the blue spot on the lower edge of the hindwing just by their tails. In the Striped Hairstreak, this blue spot is capped with orange, while the blue spot on the Hickory Hairstreak is uncapped.
Another less noticeable feature is just in front of the blue spot. On the Striped Hairstreak, the white stripes form a V shape, while in the Hickory Hairstreak, only the lower side of a V is present. The Hickory Hairstreak also only has one tail, while the Striped Hairstreak has two.
While you can find these species in similar habitats, they rely on different host plants. The Hickory Hairstreak, predictably, primarily hosts on hickories, while the Striped Hairstreak primarily hosts on species in the Rose family like Wild Cherry and the Heath family like Blueberries. The Striped Hairstreak is more commonly seen in Vermont than the Hickory Hairstreak.
Striped Hairstreak by Bruce Cook (iNaturalist)
Hickory Hairstreak by Cathy Perkins (iNaturalist)
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