The family of the Lycaenidae consists of hairstreaks, coppers and blues. When they fold their wings, they look very much alike. But once they open them it becomes a whole different story.
The typical “backwing pattern” can be seen on this female Common Blue (Polyommatus Icarus) on the left.
The Common Blue, in Dutch known as Icarusblauwtje, is
normally “raised” by ants in their nest. The larvae produce a honeydew-like substance that ants do like very much upon which they will take it to their nest…and care for it.
The young butterfly might even, as a caterpillar, eat some well needed proteins (ants as it were) and once the chrysalis turns into a butterfly, it just flies away without even thanking the ants.
A beautiful and very bright blue butterfly, that deserves to be shown.
The picture at the top of this blog is a Small Copper (Lycaena Phlaeus). As I said earlier in this blog, the coppers are also part of this family. It is a very bright coloured butterfly, of which the Dutch name is: Kleine Vuurvlinder (small fire butterfly). You will normally see them on flowers and at medium height. I have only one other candidate to show. and since there is not much more to be said, let’s just show it.
The last family member of the Lycaedinae to show in this blog is the Holly Blue (Celastrina Argiolus). Although they have the same appearance as the other family members, their closed wing pattern is more blue than the others.
In Dutch this butterfly is called: Boomblauwtje. The dark blue edges on the light blue wings are truly exquisite!
In the last blog of the series, I will show you two cases of lookalikes in two different families: the Hisperiidae and the Zyganidae (Skippers and Burnets).
To finish off, just another picture of the Common Blue that I took this month.
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