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| Polyommatus nivescens | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Lycaenidae |
| Genus: | Polyommatus |
| Species: | P. nivescens |
| Binomial name | |
| Polyommatus nivescens (Keferstein, 1851) | |
| Synonyms | |
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Polyommatus nivescens, the mother-of-pearl blue, is a species of butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Spain. [1] It is a small butterfly is sexual dimorphic. The upperside of the male is very clear, with just a bluish beige reflection bordered by a thin grey line and a marginal line of small grey dots. The female upperside is brown, decorated with a marginal line of large orange maculae bordering the hindwings and part of the forewings. Both have a white fringe. The underside is light ochre marked with a marginal line of white lunules topped with orange, and adorned with a line of black dots circled in white very marked on the fore.
In Seitz it is described thus nivescens Kef. (= albicans Dup.& Gerh.) (80 i) is a form [of Polyommatus dorylas ] flying in Spain on limestone. The upperside of the male is dull grey-violet with a white silky gloss, similar to dolus , menalcas and coridon albicans . — Larva very similar to that of icarus , dark green, with black head, blackish dorsal line and yellow side-stripe; at each side of the dorsal line yellowish smears. [2]
It favours dry, scrubby calcareous rock sites. The larvae feed on Anthyllis vulneraria .
