Taking minerals on my backpack, Switzerland, June 2013
Male, Switzerland, June 2013
Male, Switzerland, July 2013
Female, Switzerland, June 2013
Female, Switzerland, July 2013
Female, Switzerland, July 2013
Male, Switzerland, July 2013
Male, Switzerland, June 2008
Female, Switzerland, June 2008
Male, Switzerland, June 2008
Male, Switzerland, June 2008
Female, Switzerland, June 2008
Distribution
This lovely blue is similar to its congeners, the idas blue,
silver-studded blue and the various zephyr blues. Of these, it is most
like the
idas blue in principle, with narrow wing borders in the male and silver
studs in the submarginal
spots on the underside hindwing.
However, in reality it is rather different from idas, having a slightly
deeper
shade of blue and (in my very limited experience, at least) being a
little larger. Most telling though, the orange spots on the underside
forewing are broad, bright and continuous right up to the apex, marking
a set of 'tramlines' that a coach could pass through. Those on the
hindwings also leave enough space for an undeviating line to be drawn
through them. The black spots bordering the orange internally typically
have flat, rather than concave bases. The general appearance of both
sexes is of a cleaner, brighter butterfly.
The species is local, especially in Switzerland, and I saw my
first
individuals ever in
June 2008
at a colony shown to me by a friend. The habitat looked unexceptional -
a grassy meadow with crown vetch, the larval foodplant - but clearly
there are quite specific requirements as the butterfly does not fly
anywhere near me, even where the conditions look exactly the same. The
site in Switzerland where I most regularly find Reverdin's blues is
very dry, unimproved grassland.
Reverdin's blue is bivoltine, flying in May-June and then
again from
the end of June through July. It hibernates as an egg or small larva.
Like all its relatives, it has a close relationship with ants as a
larva.
