Chapman's
Blue
2008 photos highlighted green. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
|
|
|
|
| 6516_male_Var_5Jun07 | 10014_male_Var_25Apr08 | 1852_male_Var_8Jun06 |
|
|
|
|
| 0441_female_Var_9May06 - first brood | 10789_female_Var_23May08 |
Very similar to the Common Blue (P. icarus), usually slightly smaller. The male upperside is bright blue with a violet tinge, and there is a narrow, but strong and even, black border on both wings. The underside is very similar to icarus although the key identifier is the absence of a unf cell spot which icarus nearly always has, even if sometimes very small. It is not always easy to see this as it is near the base of the wing, especially if the forewing is tucked down and the cell spot (or lack of it) is not visible. The unh marginal orange lunules tend to be brighter and more elongated with pointed ends, and the black “dashes” inside the white marginal areas tend to be more centrally located within these white areas, compared to icarus where are usually close the orange, if not actually touching it. The underside ground colour is pale brown in the female and greyish in the first brood males, although second brood males seem usually to have a brownish ground colour.
First brood females have a good degree of blue scales, whereas second brood females are more classically brown with orange lunules. First brood females could be confused with icarus - see the icarus page for possible means of differentiating. It is an early emerger, usually being on the wing in April in the south of France.
This species is referred to as agrodiaetus thersites in T&L, but now seems to be classified as a member of the polyommatus family.
6516: this male shows the strong deep blue, deeper than icarus, with the clear clean black border of constant width. Altitude 140m.
10014: a male of the first brood, helpfully showing a raised forewing to make it clear that there is no cell spot.
1852: the uns ground colour is a classic, very clean, pale brown, typical of summer brood males. This is an early starter, so the second brood appears in June. The unh marginal black dashes are clean and small, nicely centred, and the orange lunules are long and pointed.
0441: there is blue scaling on the upf extending to the discoidal spot, less so on the uph. There are limited orange submarginal marks on the upf and attractive blue-edged uph marginal lunules. Typical of first brood female thersites, but I am not 100% convinced this isn't icarus.
10789: a rather worn female underside. As with 10014, the forewing is raised, showing the absence of a cell spot.
0441_female_Var_9May06 - first brood
