Callophrys hesseli, or Hessel's hairstreak, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae.[2] It ranges from southern Maine south along the Atlantic coastal plain to northern Florida on the Gulf Coast. The species was first described (asMitoura hesseli) by George W. Rawson and J. Benjamin Ziegler in 1950, in honor of the lepidopterist Sidney Adolphus Hessel.[3] It is listed as endangered in Connecticut by state authorities.[4]
The wingspan is 25–28 mm. Adults are on wing in one generation in late May in New England, but there are two generations with adults on wing from April to July in the south.
^Rawson, George W. & Ziegler, J. Benjamin (June, 1950) "A New Species of Mitoura Scudder from the Pine Barrens of New Jersey (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae)". Journal of the New York Entomological Society. LVIII(2). "We take pleasure in naming the new species in honor of Mr. Sidney A. Hessel, of Woodmere, N. Y., an enthusiastic collector and student of the Lepidoptera, in whose genial company we took our spring series."
