Showing off his cerulean wings, the eastern tailed blue butterfly is a stunner. The male's upper side wings shine brilliant sapphire, though the female has a more muted bluish/brownish palette. From below, the wing colors of both are satiny silver with black dots and two orange patches. Those with an eye for detail will also notice two little antenna-like tails on the bottom ends of the wings.

These delicate tails serve a protective purpose. They attract predators to pick at the posterior, protecting the larger and more important body and head of the insect. The eastern tailed blue can lose these tails and survive, but a hit to the anterior areas would be fatal.

With a one-inch wingspan, the eastern tailed blue is a wee one. The Missouri Department of Conservation does not hold out much hope that many people will even notice this small and mighty butterfly, saying that if you observe one, "you are in a special category of people."

One of the special people that did notice this little legend was 19th-century French entomologist Jean Baptist Godard. Described as "impassioned by butterflies in his youth," Godard spent his life studying them. He penned the Natural History of Lepidoptera Butterflies of France, dedicating more than 20 years to its completion. Don't judge his slow pace too much; he was pretty busy with other discoveries, having been credited with documenting and naming 145 taxa, of which the eastern tailed blue was just one.

Christened Cupido comyntas, perhaps after the Roman God of love, it is hard not to fall for this blue wonder. It is not the only blue to be adored. Similarly sized and colored butterflies include the spring and summer azures, though they prefer more forested areas and lack the tail of the eastern tailed blue. Cupido has also been translated as adorable child, fitting for this diminutive flutterer.

Despite the butterfly's dimensions, the eastern tailed blue is artful in its actions and has developed big behaviors to avoid predators. Besides its predator-protective tail, the caterpillar of this butterfly engages ant associates for safety.

In a form of mutualism, where a partnership provides benefits for both organisms, the eastern tailed blue caterpillar creates honeydew, a syrup to feed ants that comingle with them for this sweet treat. This type of interspecies love affair, when it involves ants, is called myrmecophily. The sugared-up ants protect the caterpillar from predators.

This beautiful butterfly will be on the wing through summer and into fall, with multiple generations cycling through the seasons. Look for the adult butterflies in the fields and open spaces, flying low and preferring ground-level plants including legumes such as vetch, clover and alfalfa for egg-laying, and open or short-tubed flowers for nectaring.

If you spot one, put yourself in the special category of people observing this special category of butterfly, and hope that it won't be a once in a blue moon encounter.