family Lycaenidae
The common blue (Polyommatus icarus) is a small butterfly in the family Lycaenidae, widespread over much of the Palaearctic and recently introduced in eastern Canada.
The caterpillar is small, pale green with yellow stripes and, as usual with lycid larvae, rather slug-like. Hibernation occurs as a half grown larvae. They are attractive to ants, but not as much as some other species of blues. The chrysalis is olive green/brown and formed on the ground, where it is attended by ants, which will often take it into their nests. The larva creates a substance called honeydew, which the ants eat while the butterfly lives in the ant hill. In the south of Britain there are two broods a year, flying in May and June and again in August and September. Northern England has one brood, flying between June and September. In a year with a long warm season, there is sometimes a partial third brood in the south flying into October.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The common blue (Polyommatus icarus) is a small butterfly in the family Lycaenidae, widespread over much of the Palaearctic and recently introduced in eastern Canada.
The larva feeds on plants from the family Leguminosae. Recorded foodplants are Lathyrus spp., Vicia spp., Vicia cracca, Oxytropis campestris, Lotus corniculatus, Trifolium pratense, Oxytropis pyrenaica, Astragalus aristatus, Astragalus onobrychis, Astragalus pinetorum, Medicago romanica, Medicago falcata, and Trifolium repens.
The main food plant on most sites is Bird's foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus). Others used include black medick Medicago lupulina, common restharrow (Ononis repens), white clover (Trifolium repens), and lesser trefoil (Trifolium dubium). Eggs are laid singly on young shoots of the food plant.
The caterpillar is small, pale green with yellow stripes and, as usual with lycid larvae, rather slug-like. Hibernation occurs as a half grown larvae. They are attractive to ants, but not as much as some other species of blues. The chrysalis is olive green/brown and formed on the ground, where it is attended by ants, which will often take it into their nests. The larva creates a substance called honeydew, which the ants eat while the butterfly lives in the ant hill. In the south of Britain there are two broods a year, flying in May and June and again in August and September. Northern England has one brood, flying between June and September. In a year with a long warm season, there is sometimes a partial third brood in the south flying into October.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Photos Geri 31/10/2014 by George Konstantinou
Female
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