Pseudophilotes baton

Valais, Switzerland, May 2006

Valais, Switzerland, August 2006

Baton Blue
Pseudophilotes baton

Distribution: North Spain, France, southern half of Germany into the Czech Republic and southwards into Switzerland and all of Italy. Apparently not on the islands except Sicily and Corsica. Often common where they occur in the south, less so in the north. Sea level to 2000m.

Identification: A small butterfly with some distinctive characteristics: strongly chequered fringes, a solid, uniform and usually intense orange band on the underside hindwing - no orange on the forewing and a discal spot on the upperside forewing. They also have a characteristic pose: wings slightly cupped and usually held open at right angles. Female upperside is predominantly dark brown.

Very similar to the Eastern Baton Blue, P. vicrama, which has (usually) a redder underside hindwing band, is averagely larger. Frankly these species are very difficult to tell apart. Geographical information is perhaps the most useful character, the species only overlapping in a few places along their north-south frontier.

Apart from the orange band, very similar to the three other species of Pseudophilotes - namely Panoptes Blue (P. panoptes) which flies only in S and C Spain, False Baton Blue (P. abencerragus) which flies in S Spain and N Africa and Sardinian Blue (P. barbagiae) which flies only on Sardinia. P. panoptes and P. abencerrargus are extremely similar and share the same range. The upperside blue of the male is bright in panoptes, rather duller and slate-grey in abencerragus. The undersides are brownish in panoptes, brighter grey in abencerragus.

Flight time: Typically double brooded in early spring (e.g. April/May to June) and August/ September or only summer (e.g. June/ July) at higher levels.

Habitat: Dry grassy/ rocky places amongst hills. Larvae take Thyme but also Lavender and Mints.

Behaviour: Flies low over the ground where it is generally easily overlooked. Takes nectar at flowers, but typically rests on warm surfaces such as soil or rocks.