Common name: Karner Blue
Scientific name: Plebejus melissa samuelis (Nabokov, 1944)

Class:
Insecta (Insects)
Order:
Lepidoptera (Butterflies, Skippers, and Moths)
Family:
Lycaenidae (Blues, Coppers, Hairstreaks, Elfins)
Synonyms:
Lycaeides melissa samuelis Nabokov, 1944
Other common names:

Habitat type(s):
Habitat description(s)
Terrestrial:
Savanna, Sand/dune, Woodland - Conifer, Old field, Grassland/herbaceous

Ecological systems and subsytems (about):
TERRESTRIAL - BARRENS AND WOODLANDS:
Calcareous pavement woodland (guide)
An open canopy woodland that occurs on very shallow soils over flat, striated outcrops of calcareous bedrock (limestone and dolomite).
PALUSTRINE - OPEN MINERAL SOIL WETLANDS:
Pine barrens vernal pond (guide)
A seasonally fluctuating pond and its associated wetlands that typically occurs in pine barrens. The water is intermittent, usually a pond in the spring but sometimes losing water through the summer to become a mostly vegetated wetland at the end of the summer. These ponds and wetlands may be small.
TERRESTRIAL - FORESTED UPLANDS:
Pitch pine-oak forest (guide)
A mixed forest that typically occurs on well-drained, sandy soils of glacial outwash plains or moraines; it also occurs on thin, rocky soils of ridgetops. The dominant trees are pitch pine mixed with one or more of the following oaks: scarlet oak, white oak, red oak, or black oak.
TERRESTRIAL - BARRENS AND WOODLANDS:
Pitch pine-scrub oak barrens (guide)
A shrub-savanna community that occurs on well-drained, sandy soils that have developed on sand dunes, glacial till, and outwash plains.
TERRESTRIAL - OPEN UPLANDS:
Successional northern sandplain grassland (guide)
A meadow community that occurs on open sandplains that have been cleared and plowed (for farming or development), and then abandoned. This community is usually dominated by low, dry turf of sedges and grasses less than 30 cm (12 inches) tall, and include patches of open sand and patches of soil covered with mosses and lichens.

Conservation:
Global conservation status rank:
G1G2
Critically Imperiled or Imperiled globally - At very high or high risk of extinction due to rarity or other factors; typically 20 or fewer populations or locations in the world, very few individuals, very restricted range, few remaining acres (or miles of stream), and/or steep declines. More information is needed to assign either G1 or G2.
State conservation status rank:
S1
Critically Imperiled in New York - Especially vulnerable to disappearing from New York due to extreme rarity or other factors; typically 5 or fewer populations or locations in New York, very few individuals, very restricted range, very few remaining acres (or miles of stream), and/or very steep declines.
Federal protection:
Endangered
Listed as Endangered under the Federal Endangered Species Act
State protection:
Endangered
Listed as Endangered by New York State: in imminent danger of extirpation in New York. For animals, taking, importation, transportation, or possession is prohibited, except under license or permit. For plants, removal or damage without the consent of the landowner is prohibited.
SGCN:
NYNHP track status:
Y: Track all extant and selected historical EOs

More information:
Conservation guide:
https://guides.nynhp.org/karner-blue/
NatureServe explorer link:
https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.120997/Plebejus_melissa_samuelis/