Celastrina neglecta

{{Short description|Species of butterfly}}

{{Speciesbox

| name = Summer azure

| image = Summer Azure, female, Fletcher Wildlife.jpg

| image_caption = Female, upperside

| image2 = Summer Azure Ottawa.jpg

| image2_caption = C. n. neglecta, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

| taxon = Celastrina neglecta

| authority = (W.H. Edwards, 1862)

| synonyms =

}}

Celastrina neglecta, the summer azure, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America. Layberry, Hall, and Lafontaine, in The Butterflies of Canada, describe the species:

The upper surface is pale blue with an extensive dusting of white scales, especially on the hindwing. In some females the blue is almost entirely replaced by white with a small amount of blue near the wing bases. Females have a broad blackish-grey band on the outer third and costa of the forewing. The underside is chalky white to pale grey with tiny dark grey spots and a zigzagged submarginal line on the hindwing.Layberry, Ross. A., Peter Wl. Hall, and J. Donald Lafontaine. The Butterflies of Canada. University of Toronto Press, 1998. Reproduced with permission at [http://www.cbif.gc.ca/spp_pages/butterflies/species/SummerAzure_e.php Summer Azure], Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility

Wingspan is {{convert|23|to|29|mm|abbr=on}}.

Known host plants for the caterpillars include New Jersey tea, dogwoods, and meadowsweet. Adults nectar from many plants including vetch, yarrow, meadowsweet, rough-fruited cinquefoil, Queen Anne's lace, wild oregano (Origanum vulgare), narrow-leaved mountain mint, Joe-pye weed, and goldenrods.{{cite web|url=https://val.vtecostudies.org/projects/vermont-butterfly-atlas/summer-azure/|title=Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta)|access-date=May 4, 2023|publisher=Vermont Center for Ecostudies}}

The summer azure occurs across most of eastern and central United States as well as southern Canada from Nova Scotia to southern Saskatchewan. Adults fly from mid-June until early October with two or three generations in the south.Jim P. Brock and K. Kaufman. Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America, New York, NY:Houghton Mifflin, 2003.

The taxonomic status of this butterfly, originally described as Lycaena neglecta Edwards, 1862, has been in flux over the years. It was at one time treated as a synonym of Celastrina argiolus lucia (Lycaena lucia Kirby, 1837).{{cite book|author1=Eliot, J.N.|author2=Kawazoe, A.|title=Blue butterflies of the Lycaenopsis group|date=1983|location=London}}