Black-eyed Blue (Glaucopsyche melanops)

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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.

32479_male_Alpes-Maritimes_1Jun13 23993_female_Var_13Apr11 14821_female_Var_01May09 37109_female_Var_3May15
32472_male_Alpes-Maritimes_1Jun13 14495_male_Var_13Apr09

28757_male_Var_19Apr12

14513_pair_Var_13Apr09
 
14514_female_Var_13Apr09 4911_female_Var_22Apr07 37095_female_Var_3May15  

Melanops is a very early season species, emerging in early April and largely disappeared by the end of the month. Before 2009, I had seen melanops only a few times, although in subsequent years it has turned up at a number of localities. It is allegedly quite common, although I would not entirely agree with that, certainly compared to the ubiquitous Green-underside Blue (G. alexis).

Melanops is quite similar to alexis, the principal differences discussed on the alexis page. The female melanops underside can be rather browner than alexis, and with a rather scruffy appearance.

 
ref sex

observations

alt. m
32479 M a male, the upperside of 32472. The date is unusually late for the PACA region, especially as this specimen is very fresh, 2013 being a very late year. 1080
24440 M a fresh male, showing the strong, clean, pale blue characteristic of melanops, and the strong black borders. 700
23993 F having seen a number of female melanops in 2011, this appears to be fairly typical in terms of the degree of blue scaling. 140
14821 F

an average amount of blue scaling.

220
37109 F another female, fairly typical of the Var populations. 37095 is the underside. 220
32472 M a male, the underside of 32479. 1080
14495 M

I am assuming this is a male, although the darker, greener ground colour strongly suggests female.

140
28757 M most probably a male, as blue can be seen at the anal angle, but this is by no means certain. However, on studying the magnified image, the end of the foreleg appears to be hooked, which confirms that this is a male. 30
14513 PAIR

a mating pair, the greener female above. The marginal marks, especially of the male, are quite pronounced.

140
14514 F

the female of the above pair, after parting naturally.

140
4911 F

this female with a distended unf black spot in s2 was only the second I had ever seen, but was considerably larger than the first, and larger than indicated in the books. The marginal marks clearly indicate melanops.

430
37095 F a rather darkish grey underside ground colour, with rather ghosted marginal markings. This is the underside of 37109. 220

 

32479_male_Alpes-Maritimes_1Jun13

 

23993_female_Var_13Apr11

 

14821_female_Var_01May09

 

37109_female_Var_3May15

 

32472_male_Alpes-Maritimes_1Jun13

 

14495_male_Var_13Apr09

 

28757_male_Var_19Apr12

 

14513_pair_Var_13Apr09

 

14514_female_Var_13Apr09

 

4911_female_Var_22Apr07

 

37095_female_Var_3May15