(Pallas, 1771)
Short-tailed Blue
Description:
Although the Short-tailed Blue looks rather like the Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus), it has very fine, small tails and prominent eye-spots on the hindwings. The Short-tailed Blue occurs in local populations on damp grassland, heathland and flower-rich verges.
It lays its eggs on Lucerne (Medicago sativa) and various clovers (Trifolium spp.), vetches (Vicia spp.), birdsfoot-trefoils (Lotus spp.) and melilots (Melilotus spp.).
When the caterpillars are fully-grown, they leave the food plant to pupate in the litter layer.
This butterfly species has two to three generations a year.
Habitat:
Mesophile grasslands
Humid grasslands
Similar species:
Cupido minimus
Cupido alcetas
Cupido lorquinii
Celastrina argiolus