Mite-gall
Guides
Celastrina serotina
Cherry Gall Azure
Celastrina serotina is a small butterfly in the family Lycaenidae, commonly known as the cherry gall azure. It occurs across North America from the treeline southward. The species is notable for its unusual larval diet: caterpillars feed on galls produced by eriophyid mites (particularly Eriophyes cerasicrumena) on cherry, and have been reported to consume the mites themselves—one of the few documented cases of carnivory in Lepidoptera. Adults fly in a narrow window between mid-May and mid-June in eastern North America, emerging after the spring azure (C. ladon) and before the summer azure (C. neglecta).