Polyommatus dorylas

Turquoise Blue (Polyommatus dorylas)

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


17915_male_Isère_11Jul09	26131_male_Alpes-Maritimes_02Jul11	32507_male_Alpes-Maritimes_2Jun13	39167_male_Hautes-Pyrénées_24Jul15

7159_female_Var_18Jun07	48324_female_Pyrénées-Orientales_12Jul21	26126_male_Alpes-Maritimes_02Jul11	49892_male_Isère_14Jul22

17995_male_Isère_11Jul09	2857_female_Var_21Jul06	7152_female_Var_18Jun07	12572_male_Isère_10Jul08

48227_male_Hautes-Pyrénées_8Jul21	48253_pair_Hautes-Pyrénées_9Jul21	37797_pair_Var_19Jun15

An exquisite butterfly, rarely encountered (by me) in more than ones and twos, although not uncommon at medium altitudes. Apart from the distinctive and dazzling male upperside colour, the male dorylas can be differentiated from many similar-sized blues by the black borders which extend inward along the veins. The underside is also quite variable and distinctive because of the large black spots on the unf combined with the very faint, often white, unf marginal marks with pale orange (more or less) heart-shaped unh submarginal marks.

It seems to occur mostly at altitudes above 750m, even as high as 2000m. It can easily be missed because it is superficially similar to the Common Blue (P. icarus).

This species is referred to as Plebicula dorylas in T&L, but is now classified as a member of the Polyommatus genus.

ref	sex	observations	alt. m
17915	M	a male, showing the gleaming turquoise-blue and the black margins extending into the veins.	1120
26131	M	*a male, this shot probably captures the pale gleaming blue of dorylas* better than 17915.**	1400
32507	M	a male, the blue colour being a little deeper than usual.	1080
39167	M	a male from the Hautes-Pyrénées, the turquoise colour being very clear. It was a little larger than those I usually see in south-eastern France.	1600
7159	F	*a female, the upperside of 7152. Typical dorylas, 7159 is very fresh with a nice strong clean brown ground colour, setting off the orange lunules.*	780
48324	F	another female, not as clean as 7159, maybe through ageing, but views of the female upperside are rather infrequent.	1820
26126	M	*classic dorylas, a rather clean, constant pale grey ground colour and unf margins almost pure white.*	1400
49892	M	*a rather dark male taking salts from the ground. It has some smudgy dark markings that dorylas* seems rather prone to.**	1120
17995	M	a fairly typical male underside, with quite pale orange lunules not quite heart-shaped.	1120
2857	F	a delicately marked female, with a warm uns pale grey-brown ground colour. The unf post-discal spots (just visible) are unusually very large, almost touching the lunules in s3-5. The orange submarginal lunules are quite distinctly heart-shaped, even to the forewing costa.	2050
7152	F	a dark female (c.f. 2857) with the commonly-found smudgy feel to the unf margins. The unf post-discal series of black spots, usually large in dorylas, seem exceptionally large here, with slight aberrations of additional spots. The heart-shape of the unh orange lunules is more apparent here, especially in s2.	780
12572	M	a male taking salts (puddling), the characteristic marginal white band on both wings is a sure indicator of dorylas. It took the sharp eyes of Tim Cowles to spot that 12572 has a unf cell spot, small and just visible, just to demonstrate that statements in books that dorylas does not have a cell spot are not true 100% of the time, although this is a rarity.	1120
48227	M	*a fresh male, in the company of another male and several Safflower Skippers (Pyrgus carthami).*	1600
48253	PAIR	a mating pair, the female on the left.	1600
37797	PAIR	*a mating pair, the female on the left. The male is in quite good condition compared to many males seen in copula.*	920