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| Chapman's blue | |
|---|---|
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| male, Bulgaria | |
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| female, Genova, Italy | |
Scientific classification  | |
| 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 )
