European Blue Butterflies for ID (4 Viewers)

[Gavia_immer]

Sorry I couldn't post this last night, as I wished.

Pic 1 is a shot of the male of my mystery Blue (I can see a little bit of the blue of the upperside). Now that I have checked like 200 pics of Escher's Blue and Chapman's Blue, I know exactly why the orange lunules of my mystery Blue look so odd to me. Both Escher's and Chapman's lunules have the black dot well surrounded by white. Most of the lunules of my mystery's only have white surrounding the upper side of the black dot, creating a similar effect to the lunules of the Plebejus species.

Pic 2 is a classical Escher's Blue and pic 3 a classical Chapman's Blue, for comparison.

 

[Cristian Mihai]

A good "Blue" day

Some pics taken on August 10. #1 and #2 the same individual. Also #3 and #4 the same individual.

 

[Cristian Mihai]

Also one individual in 2 shots.

 

[Cristian Mihai]

Hi Gavia, I'm waiting for your verdict...

 

[Gavia_immer]

Sorry, Cristian. I had to leave the forum to have dinner with my family :-O I should have come right after dinner instead of before, but curiosity was killing me

And here is my veredict

pics 1 and 2: male Short-tailed Blue

pics 3 and 4: female Common Blue

pic 5: male Common Blue. The cell spot is almost hidden but there it is.

pics 6 and 7: Short-tailed Blue again.

I am green with envy. Jos wasn't kidding when he said Short-tailed Blue is abundant in eastern Europe. I still haven't seen one this year.

 

[Cristian Mihai]

Thank you very much for IDs Gavia. Now about the envy: we are waiting you to visit Romania - a great place for butterflies, birds etc.

 

[Gavia_immer]

Thank you very much for IDs Gavia. Now about the envy: we are waiting you to visit Romania - a great place for butterflies, birds etc.

Don't tempt me, Cristian. I am dying to go I know I cannot in the near future but who knows,... Anyway, thanks a lot from the bottom of my heart. If I end going to your beautiful country, I would let you know. That is sure :t:

And of course, I would love to be a butterfly/bird guide for anyone wanting to come to Madrid :t:

 

[Adey Baker]

Don't tempt me, Cristian. I am dying to go I know I cannot in the near future but who knows,... Anyway, thanks a lot from the bottom of my heart. If I end going to your beautiful country, I would let you know. That is sure :t:

And of course, I would love to be a butterfly/bird guide for anyone wanting to come to Madrid :t:

Wouldn't it be great to do the 'Butterflies of Europe' tour with a Birdforum member being the 'guide' in each country in turn! It would be better than having to go to work, wouldn't it!! (We can't offer much in the UK, though:eek!.

 

[Cristian Mihai]

Wouldn't it be great to do the 'Butterflies of Europe' tour with a Birdforum member being the 'guide' in each country in turn! It would be better than having to go to work, wouldn't it!! (We can't offer much in the UK, though:eek!.

Yep, great idea Adey. A prize for it here:
http://www.birdforum.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/266437/ppuser/54311

 

[Cristian Mihai]

Hi everybody,

Is this a Small Blue?

 

[Gavia_immer]

Cristian, I am sorry, how is it that I missed that post of yours? :eek!::eek!:

Yes, it looks like a Little Blue to me! :t:

Wouldn't it be great to do the 'Butterflies of Europe' tour with a Birdforum member being the 'guide' in each country in turn! It would be better than having to go to work, wouldn't it!! (We can't offer much in the UK, though:eek!.

|| Excellent idea, Adey! Pity it is precisely work what prevents me from birding/butterflying all the time and visiting other countries :storm: But of course, if I don't work I don't have the money to do it anyway :eek!:

The ethernal problem: if you have the money, you don't have the time, and if you have the time, you don't have the money :C And sometimes, even no time and no money :-C

 

[balkantrek]

Just got back to my desk after several weeks in the mountains. Wish I was still exploring! Anyway, I see that there has been lots of interesting photos posted and some great discussion whilst I have been away. Plenty to catch up on!!

Anyway, I have managed to accumulate lots of new butterfly photos which I will be posting on this and other threads for discussion during the coming days. Have several fritillaries, grizzled skippers and even some 'small whites' which I need help with, so plan to start threads for these.

Of course, also took photos of plenty of blues. Presumably most are simply Common Blue and Brown Argus, but have a few others which look more 'exciting'. Here is one to get started on. It was temporarily caught by my 6 year-old son and proudly presented to me in his bug pot. Looks a bit like a Mountain Alcon Blue (Maculinea rebeli) to me at first glance. Any thoughts?

 

[Gavia_immer]

And what about Alcon Blue? Those two look too similar to me if I only see the underwing. Which altitude was it collected? Higher up than 1000 m? Then almost sure it is a Mountain Alcon Blue.

 

[balkantrek]

My records of this species were between about 1100m and 1200m. But the key thing is that according to Abadjiev's atlas of Bulgarian butterflies it is only Mountain Alcon Blue which occurs in Bulgaria! So luckily that simplifies things a lot!

 

[Gavia_immer]

My records of this species were between about 1100m and 1200m. But the key thing is that according to Abadjiev's atlas of Bulgarian butterflies it is only Mountain Alcon Blue which occurs in Bulgaria! So luckily that simplifies things a lot!

Absolutely!! :-O Plus Alcon hardly ever is find above 1000 m as far as I know! :t:

 

[balkantrek]

So lets have a look at these two blues. At first glance:

1. Blue Argus?

2. Chalk-hill Blue?

 

[Gavia_immer]

Totally agree. The black mark on the upper frontwing of N.1 gives it away. I know some specimens of Blue Argus don't show it but N.2 looks like Chalkhill to me. The checkered fringes and the submarginal pattern of the upper hindwing are too typical of a Chalkhill to think of a possible odd looking Blue Argus.

 

[balkantrek]

While Gavia is working on the next ID tips for Plebejus species, thought it was time to turn my attention away from Grizzled Skippers and back to blue butterflies again! So here is my next mystery blue I would like help with. Of course the first question is do the underside and upperside actually belong to the same species?

 

[Gavia_immer]

While Gavia is working on the next ID tips for Plebejus species, thought it was time to turn my attention away from Grizzled Skippers and back to blue butterflies again! So here is my next mystery blue I would like help with. Of course the first question is do the underside and upperside actually belong to the same species?

I think they are all the same species: Silver-studded Blue. The underside is typical of a Plebejus and the upperside has the broad dark borders of the SSB. It is very faded but the key features are still there! :t:

 

[balkantrek]

Thanks Gavia. I feel a bit guilty that I always seem to be posting such faded and tatty butterfly specimens! Here are a couple more.