Lycaenidae : Polyommatinae
Common Blue
POLYOMMATUS (Polyommatus) icarus (Rottemburg, 1775)
Subspecies
P.i.mariscolore (Kane, 1893) - Ireland/Scotland
Common Blue
POLYOMMATUS (Polyommatus) icarus (Rottemburg, 1775)
Subspecies
P.i.mariscolore (Kane, 1893) - Ireland/Scotland
Life Cycle Guide
Description
Wingspan: Male-24-36mm : Female-23-34mm
Worldwide Distribution: Europe : N.AFrica : Temperate Asia. : Recorded in Canada 2005/2008
UK Distribution: Widespread and common throughout Britain : Absent on intensive farmland & Mountains : Not on N.Shetland
UK Conservation Status -
Flight Period: May-June : July-September-Bivoltine
Habitat: Various types of open grassland : Sandy dunes : Cultivated areas
Ovum: The female can be seen flying low over the vegetation probing for the ideal leaf with her feet before arching her abdomen and depositing the pale green egg on plants like Bird's-foot Trefoil,the most common plant used.Others plants selected for the disc shaped egg are Greater Bird's-foot Trefoil,Black Medick and Restharrow,each chosen for the luxuriant growth that will give the larva its best chance of survival.
Larva: August-April and June-July-two generations.
The green larva that is well camouflaged against its food plant feeds by day. Like many of the Lycaenids the Common Blue caterpillar attracts ants by emitting sounds which are inaudible to the human ear and are in turn "milked ". The chemical make up of the secretion does not attract ants like the Adonis and Chalkhill Blue, sometimes only being attended by a single ant.
Pupa: The larva pupates in the litter layer.The pupa also attracts ants through sound and secretions. The pupal stage usually takes two weeks.
Overwinters as: Early stage larva
Observations: The Common Blue can be found in many habit types throughout its range wherever it larval food plant exists in good numbers. As its name suggest this beautiful butterfly is common,being our most widespread of butterflies, although number of individuals on each site range from tens to hundreds.
The weather certainly affects this butterfly which prefers a warms moist spring and summer and can result in wide fluctuations in numbers year on year. The past two summers have been very wet and have resulted in a drop in numbers.The butterfly needs a good spring which will result a higher summer numbers giving the butterfly a good start to the following year.Conversely, a summer that has too much sun will result in shriveling of the larval food plants which will adversely affect numbers the following spring.
The male is one of those blue butterflies that always excite the intrepid naturalist with its brilliant blue sheen that can often be mistaken for an Adonis Blue male whilst the female tends to be a dull brown which is fairly common with the lycaenids.The females can be very variable in their shades of brown and blue as the photos below clearly show.
Worldwide Distribution: Europe : N.AFrica : Temperate Asia. : Recorded in Canada 2005/2008
UK Distribution: Widespread and common throughout Britain : Absent on intensive farmland & Mountains : Not on N.Shetland
UK Conservation Status -
- Least Concern - Red List
- Least Concern
- Papilio icarus (Rottemburg 1775)
- Papilio icarus (Rottemburg, 1775)
- Germany-Berlin : Algeria-Sidi-Bel-Abbès - P. i.celina
Flight Period: May-June : July-September-Bivoltine
Habitat: Various types of open grassland : Sandy dunes : Cultivated areas
Ovum: The female can be seen flying low over the vegetation probing for the ideal leaf with her feet before arching her abdomen and depositing the pale green egg on plants like Bird's-foot Trefoil,the most common plant used.Others plants selected for the disc shaped egg are Greater Bird's-foot Trefoil,Black Medick and Restharrow,each chosen for the luxuriant growth that will give the larva its best chance of survival.
Larva: August-April and June-July-two generations.
The green larva that is well camouflaged against its food plant feeds by day. Like many of the Lycaenids the Common Blue caterpillar attracts ants by emitting sounds which are inaudible to the human ear and are in turn "milked ". The chemical make up of the secretion does not attract ants like the Adonis and Chalkhill Blue, sometimes only being attended by a single ant.
Pupa: The larva pupates in the litter layer.The pupa also attracts ants through sound and secretions. The pupal stage usually takes two weeks.
Overwinters as: Early stage larva
Observations: The Common Blue can be found in many habit types throughout its range wherever it larval food plant exists in good numbers. As its name suggest this beautiful butterfly is common,being our most widespread of butterflies, although number of individuals on each site range from tens to hundreds.
The weather certainly affects this butterfly which prefers a warms moist spring and summer and can result in wide fluctuations in numbers year on year. The past two summers have been very wet and have resulted in a drop in numbers.The butterfly needs a good spring which will result a higher summer numbers giving the butterfly a good start to the following year.Conversely, a summer that has too much sun will result in shriveling of the larval food plants which will adversely affect numbers the following spring.
The male is one of those blue butterflies that always excite the intrepid naturalist with its brilliant blue sheen that can often be mistaken for an Adonis Blue male whilst the female tends to be a dull brown which is fairly common with the lycaenids.The females can be very variable in their shades of brown and blue as the photos below clearly show.
Subspecies
P. i.icarus (Rottemburg,1775) - Europe including England,Wales,Scotland,Isle of Man & Channel Isles: Caucasus : Transcaucasia
P. i.icarus (Rottemburg,1775) - Europe including England,Wales,Scotland,Isle of Man & Channel Isles: Caucasus : Transcaucasia
Forms : Aberrations : Subspecies
P. i.celina Austaut, 1879-Sardinia,Balearic Islands,Canary Islands,S Spain,Portugal & N W Africa
P. i.celina Austaut, 1879-Sardinia,Balearic Islands,Canary Islands,S Spain,Portugal & N W Africa
Larval Food Plants Worldwide
Note - Plants hyperlinked in red below take the visitor to the relevant plant page on"Plants for a Future" website
where further information like photos,physical
characteristics,habitats,edible uses,medicinal
uses,cultivation,propagation,range,height etc. are clearly listed.
- Plant Families - in bold red below takes the visitor to the relevant "Lepi-plants" page where other butterflies & moths using the plants below are listed.
- Fabaceae - Leguminosea - The Pulse - Bean - Pea - Legume Family
- Astragalis onobrychis - False Sainfoin
- Astragalus pinetorum - Astragal sosnyakovyi
- Astragalus sempervirens - Mountain Tragacanth
- Lotus corniculatus - Bird's-foot Trefoil - Common Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Lotus uliginosus - Greater Bird's-foot Trefoil - Marsh Bird's-foot Trefoil
- Medicago lupulina - Black Medic - Medick
- Medicago sativa ssp. falcata - Yellow alfalfa
- Ononis repens - Rest Harrow
- Oxytropis campestris - Field Locoweed
- Oxytropis neglecta - Samnitic Milk Vetch
- Trifolium dubium - Suckling Clover - Hop Trefoil
- Trifolium pratense - Red Clover
- Trifolium repens - White Clover - Dutch Clover
- Vicia cracca - Tufted Vetch - Bird Vetch - Cow Vetch
- Note - Larvae also feed on the following plant families
- Fabaceae - Leguminosea - Lathyrus - Sweet Peas
- Note - Larvae also feed on the following plant families
Larval Food Plants
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Taxonomy
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Kingdom:
Subkingdom: Phylum: Subphylum Class: Order: Superfamily: Family: Subfamily: Tribe: Genus: Subgenus: Accepted Species Name: Type Species-POLYOMMATUS: Original Species Name: Species Names: Literary Ref: Type Locality: Forms/Aberrations: Subspecies: |
Animalia
Eumetozoa Arthropoda Hexapoda Insecta Lepidoptera Papilionoidea Lycaenidae Polyommatinae Polyommatini POLYOMMATUS Latreille, 1804 Polyommatus Latreille, 1804 Polyommatus ( Polyommatus ) icarus (Rottemburg, 1775) - Papilio icarus (Rottemburg 1775) - PAPILIO icarus (Rottemburg 1775) = Papilio argus Poda, 1761 = Papilio alexis Scopoli, 1763 = Papilio thetis Esper, 1777 = Papilio pampholyge Bergsträsser, 1779 = Papilio candybus Bergsträsser, 1779 = Papilio candiope Bergsträsser, 1779 = Papilio candaon Bergsträsser, 1779 = Papilio oceanus Bergsträsser, 1779 = Papilio polyphemus Esper, 1779 = Papilio fusciolus Fourcroy, 1785 = icarinus Scharfenberg, 1791 = oebalus Hofmannsegg, 1804 = Polyommatus dorylas Jermyn, 1827 = iphis Meigen, 1830 = Lycaena alexis Herrich-Schäffer, 1844 = pusillus Gerhard, 1851 = Polyommatus flavocinctata Rowland-Brown, 1909 = zelleri Verity, 1919 = Lycaena taurica Venzmer, 1920 = Polyommatus abdon A. & U. Aistleitner 1994-also considered as subspecies = Polyommatus andronicus Coutsis & Gavalas 1995-also considered ssp of P.andronicus = Polyommatus (icarus) icarus - Anmerkungen zu den Hufnagelischen Tabellen der Schmetterlinge. Erste Abtheilung : Der Naturforscher 6: 1-34, Tab. I Halle. : Title Page : p.21 : n.8 - Germany-Berlin - P.i. albescens Tutt, 1910 P.i. albistria Wright, 1941 P.i. albocincta Tutt, 1910 P.i. albocuneata Tutt, 1910 P.i. albomarginata Tutt, 1910 P.i. angulata Tutt, 1896 P.i. anticoalbocincta Tutt, 1910 P.i. anticoelunata Verity, 1943 P.i. anticoelunata-supracaerulea Verity, 1943 P.i. anticoelunata-thestylis Verity, 1943 P.i. antico-obsoleta Tutt, 1910 P.i. apicojuncta Tutt, 1910 P.i. apicta-caerulescens Tutt, 1910 P.i. apicta-thetis Tutt, 1910 P.i. arcuata-costa-retrojuncta Courvoisier, 1912 P.i. aurescens Tutt, 1910 P.i. auropuncta Bright & Leeds, 1938 P.i. caerulea Fuchs, 1877 P.i. caeruleocincta Tutt, 1910 P.i. caerulescens Wheeler, 1903 P.i. cervinescens Tutt, 1910 P.i. extensa Tutt, 1910 P.i. flavescens Tutt, 1910 P.i. fusca Gillmer, 1908 P.i. glomerata Tutt, 1910 P.i. hylasoides Tutt, 1910 P.i. iphis-cuneata Tutt, 1896 P.i. livida Gillmer, 1909 P.i. melanotoxa Pincitore-Marott, 1872 P.i. minor Cockerell, 1889 P.i. nigromaculata Cockerell, 1889 P.i. obsoleta Gillmer, 1908 P.i. pallescens Tutt, 1910 P.i. pallida Tutt, 1896 P.i. parvipuncta Courvoisier, 1903 P.i. polyphemus Esper, 1779 P.i. posticoalbocincta Tutt, 1910 P.i. posticocaeruleopuncta Tutt, 1910 P.i. radiata Courvoisier, 1907 P.i. rufina Oberthür, 1894 P.i. semipersica Tutt, 1896 P.i. subcaerulescens Tutt, 1910 P.i. subtus-radiata Oberthür, 1896 - P.i.icarus Rottemburg,1775-Europe : Caucasus : Transcaucasia P.i.celina Austaut, 1879-Sardinia,Balearic Islands,Canary Islands,S Spain & N W Africa - Nominate subspecies P.i.mariscolore Kane, 1893-Ireland P.i.fuchsi Sheljuzhko, 1928- S.Siberia : Transbaikalia P.i.omelkoi Dubatolov & Korshunov, 1995-Amur : Ussuri P.i.ammosovi Kurenzov, 1970-C.Yakutia : Far East : Kamchatka P.i.fugitiva Butler,1881-Tian-Shan : Ghissar : Alai P.i.napaea Grum-Grshimailo, 1891-Type Locality Lud-Tshan P.i.juno Hemming, 1933-Lebanon : Syria : NE Israel |