Identification: Each hindwing of both sexes has a tail. Upper surface of male copper-brown with iridescent purple sheen; female with orange and dark brown pattern. Underside of both sexes gray; forewing with black spots, hindwing with black scrawls and a band of submarginal white crescents.

Life history: Males perch in open areas, often near watercourses or ravines, in the morning to watch for females. Eggs are laid singly on host plant or on debris under it, and hibernate until the following spring. Caterpillars eat leaves.

Flight: One flight from May-August.
Wing span: 1 1/8 - 1 3/8 inches (3 - 3.5 cm).
Caterpillar hosts: Leaves of gooseberry and currant (Ribes species) in the Grossulariaceae family.

Adult food: Flower nectar.
Habitat: Open mixed woodland, sagebrush, chaparral.

Range: New Mexico north and west to Oregon, south to southern California and Baja California. [1]

References

1. Opler, Paul A., Harry Pavulaan, Ray E. Stanford, Michael Pogue, coordinators. 2006. Butterflies and Moths of North America. Bozeman, MT: NBII Mountain Prairie Information Node. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=1461