Agriades pyrenaicus explained

Agriades pyrenaicus, the Gavarnie blue, is a Palearctic butterfly of the family Lycaenidae.^[1] It is found in the Asturias mountains of north-western Spain, the Pyrenees, the southern Balkan Peninsula, Turkey, the Caucasus and Armenia.^[2] The habitat consists of alpine grassy rocky meadows where it is found at altitudes ranging from 1,500 to 2,200 meters.^[3]

The wingspan is 22–28 mm.^[4] The wings are grey suffused with blue and the wings are bordered by a white line. On the upperside a grey discal spot centers each wing, on the underside the forewings are decorated with black dots circled in white and the hindwings have a sub-marginal line of white dots some centered yellow.

The larvae feed on Androsace species.

Subspecies

• A. p. pyrenaicus (central Pyrenees)
• A. p. asturiensis (Oberthür, 1910) (Picos de Europa)
• A. p. dardanus (Freyer, 1844) - Balkan blue (Balkans, Asia Minor, Caucasus, Armenia)^[5] smaller than pyrenaicus, and the pale spots of the hindwing beneath with more distinct black centres.^[6]
• A. p. ergane (Higgins, 1981) (Ukraine, Russia)

Notes and References

1. http://ftp.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/papilionoidea/lycaenidae/polyommatinae/agriades/index.html "Agriades Hübner, [1819]"] at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and some other life forms
2. http://www.eurobutterflies.com/sp/dardanus.php Agriades dardanus at euroButterflies
3. http://www.eurobutterflies.com/sp/pyrenaicus.php Agriades pyrenaicus at euroButterflies
4. http://www.asturnatura.com/especie/agriades-pyrenaicus.html asturnatura
5. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/full/174330/1 IUCN Redlist Plebejus dardanus
6. [Adalbert Seitz]