Approaching identification of foreign blues

[Alastair Rae]

In the UK we have a small number of blues and some are quite restricted so identification is relatively easy. On the continent you can encounter mineral licks with a whole bunch of different blue species. I have a couple of Euro field guides but I was wondering if there were any resources people could suggest for learning techniques of blue identification? Or is it just lots of practice and leafing through the book?

[David M]

Lots of practice!!

Lycaenids are troublesome for me when abroad (particularly females), although I've picked up on the 'jizz' of a few along the way.

An underside AND an upperside are often essential.

[Chris Jackson]

... An underside AND an upperside are often essential ..

Alastair,
I agree with David. If you don't have uppers and unders, a doubt may subsist. I am often in this situation on the continent considering the large number of 'blues' (and 'frits' in fact). Try and get both. Fortunately we have competent experts on this forum to help us - but we need to make their job easier.

Cheers, Chris

[Padfield]

One answer would be a long essay and I haven't got time for that. I agree with the ups and uns advice, and here's another helpful tip: always use the Latin names and always use the old nomenclature. There has been a lot of generic lumping going on, which is probably good taxonomically but very bad for the field naturalist. Polyommatus is too broad. Learn to recognise Polyommatus, Lysandra, Agrodiaetus, Cyaniris &c. These are now subgenera and don't always appear in the new books but they represent the way the mind works. Similarly, you need to see instantly if a blue is Plebejus, Everes (in the old money), Cupido &c. Train your mind up like that and you will learn rapidly. I haven't used a field guide for years - all the European blues are neatly classified in my head by genus, subgenus, species group and species and it's just a case of homing in (which soon happens instinctively) when you encounter a butterfly.

Guy

[Alastair Rae]

One answer would be a long essay and I haven't got time for that. I agree with the ups and uns advice, and here's another helpful tip: always use the Latin names and always use the old nomenclature. There has been a lot of generic lumping going on, which is probably good taxonomically but very bad for the field naturalist. Polyommatus is too broad. Learn to recognise Polyommatus, Lysandra, Agrodiaetus, Cyaniris &c. These are now subgenera and don't always appear in the new books but they represent the way the mind works. Similarly, you need to see instantly if a blue is Plebejus, Everes (in the old money), Cupido &c. Train your mind up like that and you will learn rapidly. I haven't used a field guide for years - all the European blues are neatly classified in my head by genus, subgenus, species group and species and it's just a case of homing in (which soon happens instinctively) when you encounter a butterfly.

That sounds like sage advice but none of my field guides discuss what characterises the various genera. So I'm left staring at some underside patterns trying to work out how they differ from the ones on the next page. A poor resident of our off-shore islands will never get enough field time with all those foreign blues to reach your Zen-like understanding. I'm off to Sweden next week and will hopefully be pestering this forum with photos to be identified.

[Chris Jackson]

Alastair,
Looking forward to your reports and photos. Sweden should be very interesting.
Chris