''Leptotes webbianus'' (formerly ''Cyclyrius webbianus''), the Canary 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 ...

in 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

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

is 28–34 mm. Adults are on wing year round. The habitat consists of coastal areas. The species flies from March to August on heights of up to . The larvae feed on '' Lotus'', ''

Cytisus ''Cytisus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, native to open sites (typically scrub and heathland) in Europe, western Asia and North Africa. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae, and is one of several genera in the tribe Ge ...

'' and ''

Ononis ''Ononis'' is a large genus of perennial herbs and shrubs from the legume family Fabaceae. The members of this genus are often called restharrows or wrestharrows as some species grow as weeds on arable lands whose tough stems would stop the har ...

'' species.

Description from Seitz

''P. webbianus'' Brulle (— ''fortunata'' Stgr.) (77 k). Both sexes quite dark brown above with dull blue gloss. At once recognized by the variegated underside; disc of forewing beneath yellowish brown, with white spots before the apex; the hindwing dark grey-brown with light striation and an irregular white band; fringes spotted. — Only on the Canary Islands. Larva said to feed on the flowers of '' Cytisus canariensis'' and ''C. nubigenus''. The butterflies fly at a considerable altitude on the Pic of Teneriffe, locally very plentiful, but also in the plains, where they are met with more singly. Simony still found them high up in a locality without vegetation where they were sitting on the blocks of lava. They are apparently on the wing throughout the year, being especially common in August, flying about the branches of Tamarisk and visiting the flowers of ''

Adenocarpus viscosus ''Adenocarpus viscosus'' is a shrubby species of flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. It is endemic to the Canary Islands where it is known locally as Codeso del Pico. It can be found above on two of the islands, L ...

''. I obtained a specimen at Orotava in the immediate neighbourhood of the old dragon-tree, which was then still standing.

Adalbert Seitz Friedrich Joseph Adalbert Seitz, (24 February 1860 in Mainz – 5 March 1938 in Darmstadt) was a German physician and entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera. He was a director of the Frankfurt zoo from 1893 to 1908 and is best known for editi ...

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)

References

Leptotes (butterfly) Lepidoptera of Africa Endemic insects of the Canary Islands Butterflies described in 1840 Taxa named by Gaspard Auguste Brullé Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN {{Polyommatini-stub