Glaucopsyche melanops, the black-eyed blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in the western part of Southern Europe and North Africa.
Black-eyed blue | |
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Imagos in Spain | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Family: | Lycaenidae |
Genus: | Glaucopsyche |
Subgenus: | Glaucopsyche (Glaucopsyche) |
Species: | G. melanops
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Binomial name | |
Glaucopsyche melanops Boidsduval, 1828
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range | |
Synonyms[1] | |
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The length of the forewings is 11–13 mm. The butterfly flies from May to July depending on the location.
The larvae feed on Fabaceae species.
![](http://upload.luquay.com/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/The_Macrolepidoptera_of_the_world_%28Taf._82%29_%288145302922%29.jpg/230px-The_Macrolepidoptera_of_the_world_%28Taf._82%29_%288145302922%29.jpg)
Description from Seitz
editL. melanops Bdv. (= saportae Hbn.) (82 h). Above similar to the smallest varieties of cyllarus, but the ocelli of the forewing beneath are enlarged, usually much more than in our figure; the row, moreover, is strongly curved and the ocelli gradually increase in size from the first to the fifth, the sixth ocellus, if present, being smaller again. In South- West Europe, ab. elongata Courv. (= marchandii Gerh.) has elongate ocelli; ab. marchandii Bdv. is beneath without ocelli. — In North Africa there occurs a considerably larger form with broader black margin to the forewing and somewhat darker underside; this is algirica Ruhl-Heyne. — Larva pale green, with thin dark markings; a brownish dorsal stripe and a white side-line, between which a dark green pencilling; head black. Until June on Dorycynium. Pupa pale brown, with black dots on the sides. In spring, usually frequent wherever it occurs.[2]
Biology
editThe habitat is garrigue, degraded orchards and scrub, hot dry grassfield margins and woodland edge between 100m-800m. Larval foodplants include Lotus dorycnium, Sulla flexuosa (Hedysarum flexuosum L.).Adults feed on various small composites.
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Habitat in Portugal
References
edit- ^ "Glaucopsyche melanops". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
- ^ Adalbert Seitz in Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter, 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren)
External links
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