![Photo: dardanus11.jpg](../pics/d/dardanus11.jpg)
Pirin Mts, Bulgaria, July 2004
Male.
![Photo: dardanus12.jpg](../pics/d/dardanus12.jpg)
Pirin Mts, Bulgaria, July 2004
Field notes and information
Extremely local in the southern Balkans. Discussion about the status of this taxon as a full species or a subspecies of the Gavarnie blue, A. pyrenaicus dardanus, is still not concluded.
In 2004 it was extremely satisfying to discover a thriving colony of this rare and extremely local butterfly in Bulgaria. We probably saw 30 or 40 individuals in the very tiny area they were flying over.
Identification & Similar species: No similar species share the same range.
Distribution & Flight: From a limited number of mountains in the southern Balkans from north Greece, south Bulgaria, FYROM, Bosnia where it is very local. Flies in July.
Habitat & Behaviour: Our Bulgarian colony was on a small rocky ridge with a great variety of plants and sparse grasses at roughly 1900m. It was my father who found them - we had both spent an hour wandering fruitlessly across similar looking areas nearby without finding a single specimen.
It is a very small and inconspicuous butterfly. It flies low over the ground stopping frequently on rocks or to take nectar from low plants.
![Photo: dardanus2.jpg](../pics/d/dardanus2.jpg)
Pirin Mts, Bulgaria, July 2004
Female.
![Photo: dardanus8.jpg](../pics/d/dardanus8.jpg)
Pirin Mts, Bulgaria, July 2004
![Photo: dardanus15.jpg](../pics/d/dardanus15.jpg)
Pirin Mts, Bulgaria, July 2004
![Photo: dardanus1.jpg](../pics/d/dardanus1.jpg)
![Photo: dardanus14.jpg](../pics/d/dardanus14.jpg)
![Photo: dardanus3.jpg](../pics/d/dardanus3.jpg)
![Photo: dardanus6.jpg](../pics/d/dardanus6.jpg)
Pirin Mts, Bulgaria, July 2004
Female underside, much browner than the male.
![Photo: dardanus4.jpg](../pics/d/dardanus4.jpg)
Pirin Mts, Bulgaria, July 2004
Male taking salts from the fabric of my trouser leg
![Photo: dardanus5.jpg](../pics/d/dardanus5.jpg)
![Photo: dardanus7.jpg](../pics/d/dardanus7.jpg)
![Photo: dardanus9.jpg](../pics/d/dardanus9.jpg)
Pirin Mts, Bulgaria, July 2004
![Photo: dardanus13.jpg](../pics/d/dardanus13.jpg)
Pirin Mts, Bulgaria, July 2004
Another favoured nectar plant, second only to thyme, Thymus.
![Photo: dardanus10.jpg](../pics/d/dardanus10.jpg)
Pirin Mts, Bulgaria, July 2004