Polyommatus thersites

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Chapman's blue
Chapman's blue (Polyommatus thersites thersites) male Bulgaria.jpg
male, Bulgaria
Lycaenidae - Polyommatus thersites - female-1.JPG
female, Genova, Italy
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Genus: Polyommatus
Species:
P. thersites
Binomial name
Polyommatus thersites
Cantener, 1835

Polyommatus thersites, the Chapman's blue, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in southern Europe, Morocco, Lebanon, Asia Minor, Iran and across the Palearctic to Siberia and Tian Shan.

Contents

It is a small butterfly with both generation dimorphism and sexual dimorphism. For the first generation the upperside is blue with grey hind-wings and in the female a sub-marginal line of orange spots. The summer generation of the female is brown with the same sub-marginal line of orange spots while they are absent in the lighter male.

Representatives of both sexes have in the spring generation grey-colored hindwing undersides while (sandy brown in the summer generation).

The underside is ochre marked with black dots circled in white and decorated with a sub-marginal line of orange spots. The forewing underside is yellow grey in summer females.

Polyommatus thersites is similar to Polyommatus icarus , but they are smaller and both sexes have no basal spots on the underside of the forewing .

The larva feeds on Onobrychis species ( O. arenaria , O. peduncularis , O. sativa and O. viciifolia )

Subspecies

Two subspecies are recognized:

References

    Bibliography