| Arctic blue | |
|---|---|
 | |
| A. g. Labrador, male, Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland and Labrador | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Lycaenidae |
| Genus: | Agriades |
| Species: | A. glandon |
| Binomial name | |
| Agriades glandon (de Prunner, 1798) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Agriades glandon, the Arctic blue or Glandon blue, is a species of butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. [1] It in found in Eurasia and North America.
In North America, this species is found from Alaska east to Newfoundland, south through the mountains to Washington, northern Arizona, and northern New Mexico. [2] In Europe, it is found in mountainous areas like the Pyrenees and Alps, as well as the far north. It is also found in parts of Russia, including Siberia, and Kamchatka. Its habitats include arctic tundra, subarctic and subalpine forests, mountain meadows, and bogs. [2]
The wingspan is 17–26 mm. The male wing uppersides are silver-coloured, steely blue or pale shining blue and become increasingly brown towards the edges. The female wing uppersides are almost entirely brown but with a slightly bluish pollination in the basal region. The incidence of darkening increases with altitude. All wings usually have small, dark disk spots that are sometimes surrounded by white. Both sexes have white-rimmed black dots on the pale grey-brown ground of the forewing underside, while the underside of the hind wings reveals striking white spots and occasionally orange-colored dots on the greyish-brown ground.
Despite a large geographic variability in the pattern of the wing, the species is, in Europe, clearly distinguishable from other bluish species in a complex of three species widely separated geographically. Only two species overlap in range in Europe that could be confused. In the Alps and the Pyrenees, the more local and less frequent, Aricia nicias , has fine underside markings and a white stripe. In the Pyrenees, Agriades pyrenaicus may also fly in the same locations. In this species the underside forewing submarginal spots are bold black not faint grey-brown and the black markings on the underside hindwing are relatively greatly reduced or absent. Other similar species do not overlap in distribution. They are Agriades zullichi (Spain) and Agriades aquilo (Arctic Europe), and are sometimes viewed as subspecies of Agriades glandon.
The butterfly flies from mid-May to September depending on the location. [3]
Clarke 2022 lists Astragalus alpinus , Saxifraga aizoides and Saxifraga oppositifolia as larval food plants in the European part of its range for Agriades aquilo. [lower-alpha 1] [4]
For Agriades glandon, Clarke lists Androsace species A. alpina , A. chamaejasme , A. lactea , A. laggeri , A. obtusifolia , A. villosa and A. vitaliana ; Soldanella alpina and Soldanella pusilla ; and Oxytropis campestris . [4] Further recorded food plants for Agriades glandon include Androsace bungeana and Androsace septentrionalis , Diapensia lapponica , Vaccinium , and Saxifraga species Saxifraga bronchialis and Saxifraga spinulosa . [5]
Several subspecies have been described: [6]
The relationships between these taxa are not yet fully understood. Many authors treat A. g. aquilo as a separate species. Some authors also consider all the above North American subspecies to belong to one separate species, which they call Agriades franklinii. Subspecies rustica and cassiope are sometimes also treated as valid species.
Lycaena phlaeas, the small copper, American copper, or common copper, is a butterfly of the Lycaenids or gossamer-winged butterfly family. According to Guppy and Shepard (2001), its specific name phlaeas is said to be derived either from the Greek φλέγω (phlégo), "to burn up", or from the Latin floreo, "to flourish".
The purple-edged copper is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae.
Polyommatus eros, the Eros blue or common meadow blue, is a species of blue butterfly found in the Palearctic.
Agriades zullichi is a species of butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is endemic to Spain. It is a montane species confined to the Sierra Nevada. It is very similar to Agriades glandon and formerly was a subspecies of that taxon. The ground colour is more greyish. The larval foodplant is Androsace vitaliana.
Agriades is a genus of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae. Its species are found in temperate Asia, Europe, and North America.
The Circumboreal Region in phytogeography is a floristic region within the Holarctic Kingdom in Eurasia and North America, as delineated by such geobotanists as Josias Braun-Blanquet and Armen Takhtajan.
Plebejus argyrognomon, common name Reverdin's blue is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. The species is named after Jacques-Louis Reverdin.
Agriades optilete, the cranberry blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in north eastern Europe, the Alps, North Asia, Japan, Korea and north western North America.
Agriades orbitulus, the alpine argus, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is a high altitude species found in the Alps, the mountains of Norway and Sweden, the Urals, the Himalayas and across central Asia.
Polyommatus damon, the Damon blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae.
Zygaena exulans, the mountain burnet or Scotch burnet, is a moth of the family Zygaenidae.
Boloria napaea, the Napaea fritillary or mountain fritillary, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae.
Colias tyche, the Booth's sulphur or pale Arctic clouded yellow, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found from Baffin Island west along the Hudson Bay and arctic coasts of the Nunavut and Northwest Territories mainland and the southern tier of Arctic Islands to northern Yukon, Alaska, and Eurasia.
The Alps are one of the great mountain range systems of Europe stretching approximately 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) across eight Alpine countries from Austria and Slovenia in the east, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, France to the west and Italy and Monaco to the south. The flora of the Alps are diverse. In the mountains, the vegetation gradually changes with altitude, sun exposure, and location on the mountain. There are five successive life zones, each with distinct landscapes and vegetation characteristics: premontane, montane, subalpine, alpine, and alvar.
Saxifraga aspera is a species of saxifrage known by the common name of rough saxifrage. In German it is known as Rauhhaariger Steinbrech. It is placed in section Trachyphyllum of the genus Saxifraga. There are two subspecies, Saxifraga aspera subsp. aspera and Saxifraga aspera subsp. micrantha. It is a plant of the pan-Arctic tundra and is also found in Europe at moderately high altitudes in the Alps, Pyrenees and northern Apennines.
Agriades podarce, the arrowhead Arctic blue, gray blue or Sierra Nevada blue, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in North America from southern Oregon to central California in the Klamath Range and the Sierra Nevada. The habitat consists of subalpine meadows.
Agriades pyrenaicus, the Gavarnie blue, is a Palearctic butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in the Asturias mountains of north-western Spain, the Pyrenees, the southern Balkan Peninsula, Turkey, the Caucasus and Armenia. The habitat consists of alpine grassy rocky meadows where it is found at altitudes ranging from 1,500 to 2,200 meters.
