The Square-spotted Blue or Buckwheat Blue (Euphilotes battoides) is a species of butterfly

Butterfly

A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...

 of the Lycaenidae

Lycaenidae

The Lycaenidae are the second-largest family of butterflies, with about 6000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies...

 family. It is found from Washington south to Baja California Norte and then west to southern Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

 and New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

.

The wingspan

Wingspan

The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...

 is 16-17 mm. The upperside of the females is brown often with an orange band on the outer edge of the hindwings. Males are blue with dark borders and sometimes an orange band on the outer edge of the hindwings. The underside is off-white to grey with black spots. Adults are on wing from mid April to August in one generation per year. They feed on the flower nectar of various plant, but mostly Eriogonum

Eriogonum

Eriogonum is the scientific name for a genus of flowering plants, in the family Polygonaceae. The genus is found in North America and is known as wild buckwheat. This is a highly species-rich genus, and indications are that active speciation is continuing...

species.

The larvae feed on the flowers and fruits of Eriogonum

Eriogonum

Eriogonum is the scientific name for a genus of flowering plants, in the family Polygonaceae. The genus is found in North America and is known as wild buckwheat. This is a highly species-rich genus, and indications are that active speciation is continuing...

species. Ssp. battoides has been recorded on Eriogonum lobbii var. lobbii

Eriogonum lobbii

Eriogonum lobbii is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common name Lobb's buckwheat. It is native to most of the mountain ranges of northern California and their extensions into Oregon and Nevada...

, Eriogonum incanum

Eriogonum incanum

Eriogonum incanum is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common name frosted buckwheat. It is native to the Sierra Nevada of California and extreme western Nevada. It is also known from Oregon. -Description:...

and Eriogonum polypodum, while ssp. glaucon feeds on Eriogonum umbellatum

Eriogonum umbellatum

Eriogonum umbellatum is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common name sulphurflower buckwheat, or simply sulphur flower. It is native to western North America from California to Colorado to central Canada, where it is abundant and found in many habitats...

, Eriogonum ovalifolium var. nivale

Eriogonum ovalifolium

Eriogonum ovalifolium is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common name cushion buckwheat. It is native to western North America from California to Alberta, where it is a member of many plant communities in varied habitats...

, Eriogonum heracleoides

Eriogonum heracleoides

Eriogonum heracleoides has many flowering clusters that are cream or off-white in color. Its usual habitat is rocky areas such as sagebrush deserts and Ponderosa pine forests...

, Eriogonum sphaerocephalum var. halimioides

Eriogonum sphaerocephalum

Eriogonum sphaerocephalum is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common name rock buckwheat. It is native to the western United States from northeastern California to Idaho, where it is a common member of several habitat types, such as sagebrush....

and Eriogonum flavum var. piperi

Eriogonum flavum

Eriogonum flavum is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common name alpine golden buckwheat. It is native to northwestern North America from Alaska to Colorado. It is a mat-forming herb producing erect flowering stems to a maximum height approaching 40 centimeters. Leaves are located at ground...

and ssp. comstocki feeds on Eriogonum umbellatum

Eriogonum umbellatum

Eriogonum umbellatum is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common name sulphurflower buckwheat, or simply sulphur flower. It is native to western North America from California to Colorado to central Canada, where it is abundant and found in many habitats...

. Ssp. allyni has been recorded feeding on Eriogonum parvifolium var. parvifolium

Eriogonum parvifolium

Eriogonum parvifolium is a species in the Polygonaceae family that occurs on dune formations in the coastal area of Central and Southern California. This evergreen shrub grows to a height of 30 to 100 centimeters with a spread of approximately the same dimension. This plant is an important host...

, Eriogonum cinereum

Eriogonum cinereum

Eriogonum cinereum is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common names coastal buckwheat and ashyleaf buckwheat. This shrub is endemic to the coastline of California, where it grows on beaches and bluffs and in coastal scrub and chaparral...

and Eriogonum fasciculatum var. fasciculatum

Eriogonum fasciculatum

Eriogonum fasciculatum is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common names California buckwheat and Eastern Mojave buckwheat. This common shrub is native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, where it grows on scrubby slopes and in chaparral and dry washes in a number of...

. The larvae are tended by ants. The species overwinters in its chrysalids in sand or leaf litter.

Subspecies

• Euphilotes rita rita
• Euphilotes battoides battoides (California)
• Euphilotes battoides glaucon (Edwards, 1871) (British Columbia to north-eastern California and southern Idaho)
• Euphilotes battoides comstocki (Shields, 1975)
• Euphilotes battoides centralis (Barnes & McDunnough, 1917) (southern Colorado to northern New Mexico)
• Euphilotes battoides allyni
  El Segundo blue butterfly
  El Segundo Blue is a butterfly local to a small dune ecosystem in Southern California that used to be a community called Palisades del Rey, close to the Los Angeles International Airport . It is a federally designated endangered species. The El Segundo Blue Butterfly Habitat Preserve next to LAX...
  
  (Shields, 1975) (California)