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"Perhaps the butterfly is proof that you can go through a great deal of darkness yet become something beautiful"

Western pygmy blue (Brephidium exilis)

 

A wingspan of 12-20 mm makes this the smallest butterfly in North America and one of the very smallest in the world. Shown here on one of its hostplants (atriplex semibaccata) at the Don Edwards NWR at Alviso California.

 

I have a sharper image of a butterfly of this species at www.flickr.com/photos/25673579@N04/28730652937/in/datepos... but yesterday I could not find one in ideal light, and the only one I found more than 8" [20 cm] off the ground flew off when I approached.

 

* Unattributed quotation found at www.pinterest.com/pin/451134087649939090/

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Uploaded on August 27, 2018
Taken on August 26, 2018