Lysandra bellargus

(Rottemburg, 1775)

  • Subfamily: Polyommatinae - Polyommatini
  • Wingspan: 30-32 mm
  • Flight period: May - Sep
  • Spread: Common
  • Host plants: Fabaceae (e.g. Hippocrepis comosa, Lotus)

Information

Butterfly of the Lycaenidae family, the Lysandra bellargus also called Adonis Bluehashas a wingspan of about 30 - 32 mm. It is widespread in the Palearctic ecozone,(Western Europe, Central Europe, Southern Europe, Southern Russia, Iraq, Iran, Caucasus, Transcaucasia and Turkey), in Italy it is present everywhere with the exception of Sardinia *.

The male has bright sky blue upper side wings with a thin black line around the edge and a white margin. The female is chocolate brown in color with some blue scales near the base of the wing and with orange spots, bordered by blue scales, around the edge of the rear wing. Both males and females have light brown undersides of their wings with black markings and an orange crescent. Sometimes it hybridizes with Polyommatus coridon (Poda, 1761), assuming a diffuse grayish color on the underside of the front wings, characteristic of the latter species.
The edge of the wings is checkered in white and brown / black. The lower part of the front wings has a black ocello in the cell.

Lysandra bellargus's favorite habitat is limestone grasslands with hot, dry conditions. This is because the larva feeds on Hippocrepis comosa (Common Sferracavallo) plant largely limited to these habitats. This plant blooms on pastures where sheep feed and disappears after a few years when cattle arrive on the pastures.

The caterpillar reaches 16 millimeters in length, has a dark green body with dark spines and yellow bands along the back and sides. The larvae are moderately myrmecophilous and have interactions with different genera of ants.

Polyphagous species on different species belonging to the Fabaceae family (e.g. Hippocrepis comosa, Lotus).


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - https://fauna-eu.org/
** Bestimmungshilfe für die in Europa nachgewiesenen Schmetterlingsarten - http://lepiforum.de/

Polyommatus bellargus
Polyommatus bellargus
Polyommatus bellargus