Silvery Argus (Aricia nicias)

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

17517_male_Hautes-Alpes_08Jul09 22530_male_Isère_17Jul10 36157_male_Hautes-Alpes_14Jul14 44820_male_Hautes-Alpes_23Jul17
22064_female_Hautes-Alpes_13Jul10 49612_female_Savoie_5Jul22 36180_male_Hautes-Alpes_14Jul14 22801_male_Isère_19Jul10
22810_male_Isère_19Jul10 22825_male_Isère_19Jul10 17414_male_Hautes-Alpes_07Jul09 41765_male_Savoie_20Jul16
 
41445_pair_Hautes-Alpes_14Jul16 22060_female_Hautes-Alpes_13Jul10 49819_female_Hautes-Alpes_11Jul22  

An exquisite little butterfly of the mountains. The upperside colour is often shown as a pale dullish silvery blue with narrow darker borders in most books, but I have generally found it to be rather bluer and with very broad almost-black borders. Before 2006 I had only seen it once at the Col de Vars, and had assumed it to be a rarity, although in subsequent years I have seen in many Alpine locations, mostly in singles. It tends to be rather sedentary and is perhaps easy to overlook, especially among puddling blues. 

The female is plain brown and like many mountain blue females, quite reclusive, and I had only seen one before 2016, in 2010. The underside is very pale and delicate, with a characteristic white stripe and often almost yellow around the unh lunules, and quite variable in terms of the strength of the markings.

 

This species was previously known as Pseudoaricia nicias.

 
ref sex

observations

alt. m
17517 M

a male, puddling. I have only seen it nectaring on one occasion, other than when it is puddling.

2000
22530 M

a male, a typical male upperside, almost identical to 17517.

1120
36157 M a male, rather bluer than the norm and perhaps with slightly narrower black borders. 36180 is the underside. 2020
44820 M another male, fairly standard nicias, but offering an open-wing shot. 2020
22064 F

a female upperside, identifiable with confidence as it was the underside of 22060.

1800
49612 F a female, not often an upperside view, showing slight wear and not as fresh as 22064. 1930
36180 M a male, the underside of 36157. A relatively dull and unmarked underside. 2020
22801 M

a male, quite a strong grey ground colour. The marginal markings are almost non-existent.

1120
22810 M

a male, quite brownish in ground colour, with very vestigial markings generally. An interesting pose, resting on this low grass shoot rather than on the ground.

1120
22825 M

a male, also very pale. This seemed to be a characteristic of this relatively (for nicias) low-altitude location.

1120
17414 M

a male underside, showing the delicate colouring and markings. Quite typical for nicias, the other undersides on this page being the less so.

2000
41765 M this specimen has almost a two-tone hindwing and very colourful marginal markings. 1930
41445 PAIR a rare sight of a female, in an even rarer sight of a mating pair, contrasting the male below with the browner ground colour of the female above. 1960
22060 F

a female, quite a strong brown showing up the white stripe clearly, and with quite small spots.

1800
49612 F a female, showing rather more yellow in the submarginal areas of both wings than normal. 2100

 

17517_male_Hautes-Alpes_08Jul09

 

22530_male_Isère_17Jul10

 

36157_male_Hautes-Alpes_14Jul14

 

44820_male_Hautes-Alpes_23Jul17

 

22064_female_Hautes-Alpes_13Jul10

 

49612_female_Savoie_5Jul22

 

36180_male_Hautes-Alpes_14Jul14

 

22801_male_Isère_19Jul10

 

22810_male_Isère_19Jul10

 

22825_male_Isère_19Jul10

 

17414_male_Hautes-Alpes_07Jul09

 

41765_male_Savoie_20Jul16

 

41445_pair_Hautes-Alpes_14Jul16

 

22060_female_Hautes-Alpes_13Jul10

 

49819_female_Hautes-Alpes_11Jul22