Mazarine Blue (Cyaniris semiargus)
2011 photos highlighted in green. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
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| 18204_male_Isère_12Jul09 | 25642_male_Alpes-Maritimes_10Jun11 | 7140_female_Var_18Jun07 |
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| 18005_male_Isère_11Jul09 | 20884_male_Var_20Jun10 | 21382_female_Alpes-Maritimes_3Jul10 |
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| 7122_female_Var_18Jun07 |
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A butterfly with a very wide altitude range, often being found at 2000m and sometimes considerably higher. It is quite widespread across Europe but rarely more than a few in any one place. The male is a deep strong blue with the veins marked black and with varying-width strong black borders, and the female plain brown with no marginal lunules. |
The undersides of both sexes are quite similar: the male is greyish-brown and the female browner, although male undersides can be browner than one might expect. It is slightly larger than the average Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus). |
| ref | sex |
observations |
alt. m |
| 18204 | M |
showing the deep blue, especially of the upf, and black veins. |
1120 |
| 25642 | M | almost identical to 18204, but probably better showing the beautiful deep blue of semiargus. | 1400 |
| 7140 | F |
a fresh female upperside, plain dark brown and almost completely unmarked. |
780 |
| 18005 | M |
a male, the ground colour being brown-grey. |
1120 |
| 20884 | M |
quite bluish in ground colour, and with very vestigial marginal markings. |
830 |
| 21382 | F |
quite a strong and distinct brown ground colour. |
1320 |
| 7122 | F |
a beautiful clean pale creamy-chocolate ground colour and strong black spots. It unusually has very vestigial submarginal marks, as the semiargus underside is usually completely unmarked. |
780 |
25642_male_Alpes-Maritimes_10Jun11
21382_female_Alpes-Maritimes_3Jul10
