Page 1 of 1
ID Please Small Blue?
Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 5:28 pm
by sahikmet
Hi, These pictures were taken about a week ago in Madeira. Not terribly good pictures. Wing span approximately 2cm or less. Is it a small blue please? Cheers Sezar
Re: ID Please Small Blue?
Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 5:34 pm
by Padfield
Hi, Sezar.
That's a female Lang's short-tailed blue, Leptotes pirithous.
Guy
Re: ID Please Small Blue?
Posted: Thu Apr 04, 2013 6:18 pm
by David M
Absolutely. One sole specimen of this species flummoxed me for a while in France last summer leading me to do quite a bit of reading and I am 100% in agreement that it's Lang's Short-Tailed Blue.
Re: ID Please Small Blue?
Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 3:25 pm
by sahikmet
Hi Guy and David,
Many thanks for both of you. I never heard or seen one before. Looking through found a second picture taken 3 days earlier in the same garden, rather blurred but looks like a male Lang's Short-Tailed Blue. Attached for interest.
Cheers Sezar
Re: ID Please Small Blue?
Posted: Fri Apr 05, 2013 8:02 pm
by Padfield
Yes, that's a male of the same species.
Leptotes is a very widespread tropical and subtropical genus of rather few species, because they are mostly quite mobile. Lang's short-tailed blue breeds in the Mediterranean area of Europe (as well as in North Africa) and spreads northwards during the summer, though generally not so far as long-tailed blues. There are other species in the genus through India to Australia in the East and also some in America. It's one of my favourite groups of butterflies and I was sorry not to see any this spring during my cloudy, wet trip to AndalucĂa!
Guy
Re: ID Please Small Blue?
Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2013 8:05 am
by sahikmet
Thanks Guy
Sezar