[275] Polyommatus icarus, Common Blue

[275] Polyommatus icarus, Common Blue

Introduction

Pollyommatus icarus, the Common Blue, is a common and widespread butterfly. Only the male is blue and only when he shows his upper wings.

It is almost never called the Common Blue Butterfly but should not be confused with [126] the Common Blue Damselfly or any other species called common blue.

There are about two hundred species of Polyommatus, many of which look very similar and some of which are called Blues.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Arthropods

Class – Insects

Order – Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)

Family – Lycaenidae

Subfamily – Polyommatinae (Blues)

Genus – Polyommatus

Scientific Name – Polyommatus icarus

Name

Poly-ommatus, from Latinized Ancient Greek, means ‘with many eyes’, presumably from the patterns on the underwings.

In Greek mythology Icarus flew with wings constructed by his father Daedalus. But he flew too close to the sun and fell into the sea as the wax holding his wings melted. This makes the species epithet icarus as appropriate for the Common Blue as it would be for any other butterfly or moth, or most of the other insects!

Description

Polyommatus icarus is a relatively large butterfly, significantly larger than the Holly Blue. The male butterfly is bright blue all over the upper sides of the wings, with a thin black border.

Females are brown, sometimes with some bluish tints. The wing borders are marked with orange spots.

(In Scotland the females are bluer in colour.)

The undersides of the wings have a row of orange markings on the outside and a number of black centred white dots.

The males are more bluish-grey while females are browner.

Several similar related species can be identified by more precise examination of the patterns of dots – but the other species are much rarer.

Larvae feed on a large number of species of leguminous plants such as [343] Clover. The adult stage only lasts about three weeks.

Habitat

The Common Blue is common and widespread over all of the UK, generally in grassland habitats. It is found over most of Europe and parts of Asia and North Africa.

See also

[072] The Holly Blue is the only other common closely related species. 

[126] Enallagma cyathigerum, Common Blue Damselfly

[126] Enallagma cyathigerum, Common Blue Damselfly

Introduction

Enallagma cyathigerum, the Common Blue Damselfly, is a common and widespread damselfly. Only the male is bright blue and there are several other very similar species.

It is also known as a Common Bluet or Northern Bluet. All species of Enallagma are known as Bluets and so are the confusingly similar Coenagrion species.

In context it is often called just a Common Blue when there is no confusion with [275] Polyommatus icarus, a butterfly also known as the Common Blue.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Animals

Phylum – Arthropods

Class – Insects

Order – Odonata

Suborder – Zygoptera (Damselflies)

Superfamily – Coenagrionoidea

Family – Coenagrionidae (Narrow-winged Damselflies)

Genus – Enallagma

Scientific Name – Enallagma cyathigerum

Name

Enallagma comes from the Greek enallagma meaning (risk of) confusion because of the many confusingly similar damselfly species. Cyathigerum comes from Greek cyathos meaning cup, with the Latin ending -gerum, so it means cup-bearing, from the cup shaped marking that distinguishes this species.

(Thanks to www.dragonflypix.com/etymology.html for an extensive section on the names of dragonflies and damselflies.)

Description

The family Coenagrionidae contains over a thousand species of similar damselflies, sometimes called Pond Damselflies. All have narrow wings and a single colour marked with black patterns.

The male Common Blue is blue with black markings. It is often found in the same locations as its relative [087] Coenagrion puella, the Azure Damselfly. There are identifying differences in the side of the thorax (with a thicker black stripe for Azure) and the back of the second abdominal segment. I could try to convince you that I am an expert but, after hours of trying to understand several Field Guides and identification sources, I can’t really tell the difference. I am reliably informed from social media sites that my pictures are Common Blue. This is a male.

Females are more difficult to identify. They come in different colours but may be similar to the males. (The header picture is a female.)

These damselflies spend most of their life as larvae. This could be for a year or up to four years in colder climates further North. They can go into diapause, which is a form of hibernation.

They mate using a mating wheel where the male clasps the female by the neck and she loops her body.

They stay together until the female lays her eggs in vegetation just below water level.

Habitat

The Common Blue is found over Eurasia and northern Africa and its range includes all of the British Isles.

Larvae inhabit a variety of freshwater habitats.

Other Notes

I could say that I see a lot of these by a local unused canal. More precisely, I see lots of blue damselflies that are probably either Common Blue or Azure!

See also

Still to come are [186] the Blue-tailed Damselflies and [289] Large Red Damselfly.