Meleager's Blue (meleageria daphnis)
2008 photos highlighted green. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
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| 04_54-03_male_Alpes Maritimes_26Jul04 | 3265_male_Alpes Maritimes_27Jul06 | 03_67-33_male_Alpes Maritimes_Jun03 |
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| 3624_female_Alpes de Haute Provence_13Aug06 | 3256_female_Alpes Maritimes_27Jul06 - form steeveni | 02_58-18_female_Alpes Maritimes_Jun02 - form steeveni |
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| 3263_female_Alpes Maritimes_27Jul06 - form steeveni | 02_75-36_female_Alpes Maritimes_Jun02 - form steeveni |
The scalloping of the hindwing, much more pronounced in the female, makes this species unmistakable. I'm not sure if the scalloping makes the female easier to spot, but I have found that I see more females than males. Daphnis seems to be a butterfly of medium altitudes, usually around 500-1000m. 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, 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 for some reason did not see any in 2008.
04_54-03: a male upperside, with narrow borders and a bright blue ground colour. The underside post-discal spots are also visible, but this may just be a light effect. If it were not for the scalloping I might suspect this was Escher's Blue (polyommatus escheri).
3265: a male, typical and quite brown as compared to the rather ghostly 03_67-33 adjacent, considering both are from same location. Altitude 1000m.
03_67-33: a male, an unusually pale grey underside, but quite attractive nonetheless.
3624: a typical female of the nominate form, judging by the illustration in T&L, although the upf blue is less extensive than shown in T&L. But this is the only non-steeveni I have seen, so cannot make too many assumptions based on such limited experience.
3256: a female, a fairly standard example of the form steeveni, being quite a dull dark brown with scarcely a hint of blue scales. Altitude 1000m.
02_58-18: a female of the form steeveni, quite fresh and cleanly marked, with only a limited spattering of blue scales in the basal region. Altitude 1000m.
3263: rather worn, but a typical female underside, quite dark compared with 75-36 below. The underside of 3256.
02_75-36: a delicately marked female, the underside of 02_58-18.
3265_male_Alpes Maritimes_27Jul06
3624_female_Alpes de Haute Provence_13Aug06
3256_female_Alpes Maritimes_27Jul06
3263_female_Alpes Maritimes_27Jul06
