Life
Cycle of the Small
Copper
Ovum:
The minute eggs resembling flattened golf balls are c.0.6
mm in diameter. They are laid singly at the base of
Sorrel and sometimes Dock leaves in May and July and sometimes again in
autumn, and hatch in c. 6 days.
Larva:
After hatching the egg shell is not eaten by the young larva and may be
seen on the leaf for many weeks.
The larva can be found normally on the underside of the leaf where
it forms a groove in which it feeds on the
lower epidermis while leaving the upper epidermis intact. These
form the characteristic opaque windows and
grooves found all over the leaf.
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©
DHardiman 2003
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The summer larva matures in about 4 weeks and goes into pupation
producing adult butterflies within the next
month. But the last larval brood overwinterS
as any instar up to the third (there are 4-5 instars). There it
hibernates on a pad of silk spun on the food plant but
occasionally leaving the pad to feed for short periods
if the weather is mild. Completion of growth and normal feeding
resumes in March. By the end of the month
the now mature larva leaves its food plant to pupate.
Pupa:
Pupation takes between 25 and 30 days after overwintering
but is shorter in the summer brood. It occurs low
in vegetation or on dead leaves. The pupa is attached by
cremasteral hooks to a silken pad produced by the
mature larva and supported by a silk girdle to the underside of a leaf
or stem.
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©
DHardiman 2003
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Adult:
The Adult emerges and is on the wing around mid-May and again in July and August
(and sometimes
in October).
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©
DHardiman 2005
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