Baton Blue (Pseudophilotes baton)
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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| 9693_male_Var_11Apr08 | 18053_male_Isère_12Jul09 | 4962_female_Var_24Apr07 |
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| 9830_female_Var_19Apr08 | 19961_female_Var_7May10 | 14571_male_Var_15Apr09 |
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| 18172_male_Isère_12Jul09 |
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About the size of an average Small Blue (Cupido minimus) and could easily be overlooked. It seems to have a very early flight period, more so in the far south of France, with only a limited second brood in the localities I have visited. It can often be very common. |
The male is a steely grey-blue with chequered margins and often a series of dark marginal spots on the upf. The female is noticeably larger with a spattering of blue scales. The underside is a cleanly-spotted pattern which cannot really be confused with any other species, at least in France. |
| ref | sex |
observations |
alt. m |
| 9693 | M |
a male, in typical territorial pose. Pity about the shadow. |
185 |
| 18053 | M |
a male, not quite a cleanly marked as 9693. |
1120 |
| 4962 | F |
a female, quite dark with limited blue scales. |
140 |
| 9830 | F | an unusual female, with strong blue scaling on the uph and the underside post-discal black spots appearing strongly on the upperside. I have never seen this elsewhere. This was actually the case - it wasn't a photographic transparency effect which can sometimes happen when the light is strong behind the subject. | 185 |
| 19961 | F |
a female, very fresh and unusually dark. |
220 |
| 14571 | M |
a male, quite dark and with pale dull orange lunules. |
185 |
| 18172 | M |
a male, a very clean pale grey ground colour and slightly unusual lunules that are effectively orange between two black spots, rather than the normal lunule shape as indicated in 14571. |
1120 |
