Wingspan: 28–36 mm
Flight period of butterflies: in two generations from May to June and from July to August
Larval host plants: species from the genus Rumex (Rumex) and Polygonum (Polygonum)
The upperside of the male wings of the Scarlet copper (Lycaena hippothoe) is orange-red with a narrow dark brown band along the wing edge and a broad brown part of the hindwings near the body. Except for about one spot roughly in the middle of each wing, the male on the upperside has no pattern of spots and dashes. The outer edge of the orange-brown upperside of the forewings of the female is adorned with dark brown spots in two rows and one spot roughly in the middle of the wings. Its hindwings are on the upperside brown with an orange outer margin decorated with a series of dark spots and sprinkled with a few scattered black dots. The hindwings in both sexes are ash-gray, adorned with white-bordered black specks and an orange marginal band, which is bounded on both sides by black spots. The forewings on the underside are more or less distinctly orange and speckled with black spots.
The Scarlet Copper lives in moist and marshy meadows where its larval host plants grow. It occurs at somewhat higher elevations, from about 400 to 1800 m above sea level. As a vulnerable species it is listed on the Slovenian Red List.
