Smallest butterfly in the world?

[Padfield]

This week, in France, Tim Cowles and I came across far and away the smallest butterflies I have ever seen. They were two miniature geranium bronzes - comically small, so I could hardly even photograph them for laughing because they obviously thought they were big and tough. Here is one next to my baby finger. My finger is about 1cm across at its widest and the scale is true on this picture (my finger might even be a little further away than the butterfly):



I couldn't get a scale on the other, but it was the same ridiculous size. This picture makes it look almost like a grown-up:



Most of the others were normal size (which is pretty small anyway), though we probably saw one other mini-bronze.

They were faffing around an urban flower bed not far from Lyon. This is a normal-sized one (the legs are Tim's, not to scale):



Guy

[Pete Eeles]

Here is one next to my baby finger.

Crikey - you're hands must be even bigger than I originally thought if that's the baby finger!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Paul]

Dessicated larval foodplants?!!! I saw some very miniature Small Coppers and Common Blues on the Med coast.... so much so I really wanted to find the CB was something new!
Do you not see this happening a lot?

The leaf is Bramble.. but the tiny size does not come across well.....

[Padfield]

Yes, I can see that's a tiny butterfly, Paul - something to do with the proportions as well as the scale of the leaf. It's not easy showing size differences in photos. I've often found something striking (big or small) and taken a picture only to end up with what looks like a perfectly normal butterfly. Luckily Mini-Bronze was really tough and didn't flinch when the finger popped up beside it.

Nope, I've got pretty small hands, Pete! The butterflies were truly miniatures.

GBs live in artificial environments and are subject to artificial termmination of their tenancy when people choose to chuck out the flowers or spray them with pesticide. Natural dessication is unlikely this year, I think (!), but unnatural interference with the caterpillars, forcing them into early pupation, is a possible solution.

G

[Matsukaze]

I saw a ridiculously small Green-veined White during the week, barely larger than the Common Blue flying in the same area. Given the weather it must have endured as a larva, I doubt desiccation was the cause in this instance!

[Dave McCormick]

hmm... I can see thats its small! I have seen extra small Orange-Tips before, a few males about half their normal size... and a larger than average female common blue. The actual smalled known butterfly in the world is the Western Pygmy Blue (Brephidium exilis), with a wingspan of about 1.2 - 2cm, now thats tiny!

[Padfield]

Ha!! Then I was right, because these two chaps had wingspans of clearly less than 1cm! They really didn't look physically possible - both Tim and I were just laughing at the sight of them.

So I claim the smallest butterfly in the world.

Guy

EDIT - actually, they were probably both females. Female blues, anomalously, are generally smaller than males, and their abdomens look female.

[Martin]

So I claim the smallest butterfly in the world.

So you havn't seen many African Grass Blues then Guy?...

[Padfield]

So you havn't seen many African Grass Blues then Guy?...

I've seen a few (in the Canaries) - and these very were substantially smaller than that! Doubtless the same phenomenon could happen with knysna but it would, as here, be a case of mutant dwarfism.

You had to be there, really!

Guy

[LCPete]

Here's one I found last year in Cuba I've posted it here before Guy ID'd it for me as Hemiargus ceraunus
Smallest butterfly that I've seen by a long way