Geranium Argus ab.

[Paul]

Don't know how variable a species this is.. but took this shot in the French Alps last year, thought you might like to see it.



This is the usual underside, from the same site:-

[Padfield]

Quite a striking aberration, Paul! I have a vibrant colony of these in my garden and I don't think I've ever seen one like this, though the general idea is relatively common in blues in general. I did also notice quite a lot of blue aberrants, particularly in size but also in markings, last year, which I put down to that protracted (two or three months!) cold, rainy spell after the warm spring. I wonder if a lot of butterflies simply didn't finish developing properly.

Guy

[Paul]

Good thought.. I guess that could well be true. I really like this argus, seem noticably blue on the body & wing bases, doesn't seem to come across in the books.

[Padfield]

Since there's already a post about geranium arguses (i.e. this one), I thought I'd share these pictures, taken today. I saw a female busy laying in a geranium head (I kept my distance so as not to disturb her, hence the rather grainy picture) and when she'd finished I moved in to see the result. The next two pictures show a geranium argus egg, laid right up against the ovaries and protected by hairs.





Isn't nature wonderful!!

Guy

[Padfield]

I just noticed - yes, that green thing in the first picture is the egg, which she must just have laid:



Guy

[Paul]

fascinating. do many species actually oviposit on the flowers themseves??

[Padfield]

I don't know. I know many blues lay at the base of seed pods and some lay right next to new flowering shoots. Laying on the carpels themselves, like this geranium argus, makes a lot of sense. By the time the caterpillar emerges there should be a developing seed head.

I've often observed that male blues (in particular) nectar on the larval host plant. Here's a theory: the (evolutionary) reason they do this is to ensure maximum fertilisation of the host flowers, through pollination, thus maximising the number of viable seed pods for the larvae.

Guy