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Short-tailed Blue
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Geneve,
Switzerland, July 2006 |
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Vaud,
Switzerland, August 2006
Female
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Short Tailed
Blue
Everes argiades (Cupido alcetas)
Distribution: Northern Spain, France and eastwards to Greece and the
Balkans including most of Italy.
Identification: Can be confused with the other Short
Tailed Blues plus the Small Blues. See identification tips under Provencal
Short Tailed Blue, Everes alcetas. Male has
blue upperside, female mostly brown with often extensive areas of blue towards
the basal areas.
Flight time: Typically double brooded flying in spring (end of April
to June) and then in summer (July and August).
Habitat: Grassy flowery places, possibly with light scrub or the edge
of woodland. Feeds on various Lotus and Medicago species plus
Coronilla varia and Trifolium pratense - possibly other plants too.
Behaviour: Often flies low and inconspicuously amongst sparse areas of
vegetation.
Additional notes: A delicate butterfly. The orange patches on the underside
are a very useful identification aid.
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Geneve,
Switzerland, July 2006
Two eggs were
also laid in the flower head, visible as two white marks. |
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Macedonia,
Greece, July 2004
Orange on
underside hindwing separates it from E. alcetas and decoloratus |
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Cluj, Romania,
June 2006
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Geneve,
Switzerland, July 2006
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Sloveknsky
Kras, Slovakia, July 2001
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SE Pyrenees,
Spain, August 2003 |
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