Polyommatus daphnis

Meleager's Blue (Polyommatus daphnis)

2023 photographs highlighted in green. Click on any photograph to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.


26188_male_Alpes-Maritimes_02Jul11	47448_male_Alpes-Maritimes_18Jul20	3624_female_Alpes-de-Haute-Provence_13Aug06	3256_female_Alpes-Maritimes_27Jul06 - form steeveni

02_58-18_female_Alpes-Maritimes_Jun02 - form steeveni	44670_female_Alpes-Maritimes_19Jul17 - form steeveni	26200_male_Alpes-Maritimes_02Jul11	17188_male_Alpes-Maritimes_04Jul09

44644_male_Alpes-Maritimes_19Jul17	49683_male_Hautes-Alpes_7Jul22	49772_female_Hautes-Alpes_9Jul22	44667_female_Alpes-Maritimes_19Jul17

3263_female_Alpes-Maritimes_27Jul06 - form steeveni

The scalloping of the hindwing, much more pronounced in the female, makes this species unmistakable. Daphnis seems to be a butterfly of medium altitudes, usually around 500-1000m and sometimes above (I saw it in 2011 at 1800m flying in company with a Glandon Blue (Plebejus glandon) - not a frequent sight!) . The nominate form of the female is basically blue over most of the uph and about half of the upf. The female also occurs in a brown form, steeveni, which seems to me to be more common as I have only seen the blue nominate form on one occasion.

The male underside has very faint marginal marks and the scalloping is much less apparent when it is settled with closed wings. I usually see a few daphnis every year, but not every year, as it tends to emerge in mid-July and my trips to its localities have often been earlier than that. In 2014 and 2015 several were seen at a location where it had not been seen for several years, so it appears to survive at low densities.

This species was previously known as Meleageria daphnis.

ref	sex	observations	alt. m
26188	M	a male upperside, showing the rather pale blue colouration and the dark border of the upf. 26200 is the underside.	810
47448	M	another male, almost identical to 26188, indicating that there is very little variation in the male upperside.	1000
3624	F	a typical, albeit worn, female of the nominate form, judging by the illustration in T&L, although the upf blue is less extensive than shown there. But this is the only non-steeveni I have seen, so cannot make too many assumptions based on such limited experience.	1000
3256	F	*a female, a fairly standard example of the form steeveni, being quite a dull dark brown with scarcely a hint of blue scales.*	1000
02_58-18	F	*a female of the form steeveni, quite fresh and cleanly marked, with only a limited spattering of blue scales in the basal region.*	1000
44670	F	a glimpse of the upperside of this female of the form steeveni, as daphnis usually settles with closed wings. It is completely brown with a smattering of blue scales in the basal region. 44667 is the underside.	1000
26200	M	a rather pale, ghosted, male underside. 26188 is the upperside.	810
17188	M	a underside, rather a brown ground colour. If it were not for the difference in the degree of scalloping between the sexes, the unusually brown ground colour might be taken to indicate female.	1000
44644	M	a fresh male, very typical in terms of colouring (contrast with 17188) and with very pronounced marginal marks.	1000
49683	M	*a male taking salts from damp ground, not something I have seen daphnis* do before now.**	1600
49772	F	a female, of the blue form which was seen in flight but sadly did not offer a photographic opportunity.	1380
44667	F	a female underside. 44670 is the upperside.	1000
3263	F	rather worn, but a typical female underside, quite dark compared with 02_75-36 below. The underside of 3256.	1000