Lycaena tama

Lycaena tama, the Canterbury alpine boulder copper, is a species of copper which lives on the central South Island of New Zealand.^[1]

Lycaena tama
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Lycaena
Species:	L. tama
Binomial name
Lycaena tama Fereday 1878

Description

A small butterfly with copper wings and a "marginal series of violet dots".^[2] It was named tama as a distinct species by R. W. Fereday after "a traditionary Maori chief of that name."^[2]

Range

Lycaena tama lives in the Mackenzie Basin and in the areas around Canterbury. It was first described as being in and around "Drayton Station, on the plains near Mount Hutt; spurs of mountains near Castle Hill Station; and the top of the Mount Hutt range"^[2]

Ecology

Lycaena tama uses the host plant pōhuehue.^[3]