Frosted Elfin
Callophrys irus

Frosted Elfin once occurred statewide, but there has been no credible sighting since March 14, 1967 in Thomas County. The records reflected here are historic records going back to 1941. The population in the Coastal Plain used sundial lupine (Lupinus perennis) as its host. In NC, it also uses Lupinus diffusus, which occurs in Georgia. In the Mountains, it used Baptisia tinctoria, which is common there. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has declared Frosted Elfin extirpated in Georgia based on the fragmentation and destruction of habitat used by the lupine feeding populations in the Coastal Plain. The habitat of the baptisia feeders in the Mountains and Ridge and Valley has not been substantially altered because most of it is within the Chattahoochee National Forest, which includes large wilderness areas. It is hard to imagine that enough study has been done to declare that the species has been extirpated there. With only a handful of observers in Georgia, the largest state east of the Mississippi River, a rare species is rarely seen. I plan to keep looking!
Frosted Elfin was photographed in Florida only a mile from the St. Mary’s River (Georgia-Florida line) in 2011.