Sara Orangetip vs Large Copper Butterfly

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Sara Orangetip Large Copper Butterfly
Scientific Name Anthocharis sara Lycaena dispar
Order Lepidoptera Lepidoptera
Family Pieridae Lycaenidae
Size 30-40 mm wingspan 33-40 mm wingspan
Habitat Mountains Wetlands
Diet Nectar Feeders Nectar Feeders
Regions Western North America Europe, Asia
Conservation Least Concern Near Threatened

Sara Orangetip

Small white butterfly with vivid orange forewing tips and mottled greenish hindwing undersides. Flies early in spring in western North America.

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Did You Know?

Adults have a single short flight period in spring and are not seen for the rest of the year.

Large Copper Butterfly

Once widespread across European wetlands, the English subspecies went extinct in the 1850s. Remaining populations are declining due to drainage of fens and marshes.

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Did You Know?

The English subspecies of the large copper was one of the first British butterflies to go extinct — driven to extinction by drainage of the East Anglian fens in the 1850s.