''Polyommatus escheri'', Escher's blue, is a

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

of the family

Lycaenidae Lycaenidae is the second-largest family (biology), family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of ...

. It is found in Southern

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Description in Seitz

L. ''escheri'' Hbn. (81 a, b). male and female above similar to ''

icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; , ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of King Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, Minos suspected that Icarus and Daedalu ...

'', but much larger; the underside more prominently spotted, with more numerous ocelli, but the forewing beneath always without basal ocelli; the ground-colour of the underside in the male more shaded with grey and in the female sometimes darkened to a chocolate-brown; moreover, the discal row of ocelli of the hindwing is more proximal, standing nearer the discocellular spot than in ''icarus''. Southern Europe, from Spain to the Balkan Peninsula, northwards extending into the Alps. Females with the upperside strongly dusted with blue are ab. ''subapennina'' Tur. — ''dalmatica'' Spey. (81 b) is the form from Dalmatia; the male is lighter blue, more similar in colour to ''

hylas In classical mythology, Hylas () was a youth who served Heracles (Roman Hercules) as companion and servant. His abduction by water nymphs was a theme of ancient art, and has been an enduring subject for Western art in the classical tradition. G ...

'' than to ''icarus''; the black margin, which is very narrow in ''escheri'' is here broader, and the hindwing above bears very weak traces of dark spots at the margin. If these spots are especially distinct, we have ab. ''punctulata'' Wheel. — Egg of the usual flattened from, pure white, with small projections at the corners of the meshes of the minute network. Larva until April on ''Astragalus'' and ''Plantago''. The butterflies commence to fly at the end of June, occurring in mountain valleys, singly but not rarely; they have a rather clumsy flight and frequent specially the beds of brooks. Seitz, A. in Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, ''Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter'', 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren) The length of the forewings is 17–19 mm.

Subspecies

*''P. e. escheri'' *''P. e. dalmatica'' (Speyer, 1882) Balkans *''P. e. splendens'' (Stefanelli, 1904) Apennines *''P. e. helenae'' (Oberthür, 1910) Charente-Inférieure, Dompierre-s-Mer *''P. e. roseonitens'' (Oberthür, 1910) Spain *''P. e. balestrei'' (Fruhstorfer, 1910) Alpes Maritimes *''P. e. ahmar'' (Le Cerf, 1928) Morocco (Tizi-n-Tiskrine) *''P. e. parnassica'' (Brown, 1977) Greece

Biology

The butterfly flies from May to August. The larvae feed on ''

Astragalus Astragalus may refer to: * ''Astragalus'' (plant), a large genus of herbs and small shrubs *Astragalus (bone) The talus (; Latin for ankle or ankle bone; : tali), talus bone, astragalus (), or ankle bone is one of the group of foot bones known ...

'' species and possibly

sainfoin __NOTOC__ ''Onobrychis'', the sainfoins, are a genus of Eurasian perennial plant, perennial herbaceous plants of the legume family (Fabaceae). About 206 species are presently accepted. The Flora Europaea lists 23 species of ''Onobrychis''; the m ...

References

External links

Butterflies of Europe
Polyommatus Butterflies of Europe Butterflies of Africa Butterflies described in 1823 {{Polyommatini-stub