(Bergsträsser, 1779)
Scarce Large Blue
Description:
The Scarce Large Blue can be found in moderately nutrient-rich meadows where its food plant Great Burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis) is growing. In northern Europe, it occurs in open, short vegetation, but in the warm, southern parts, it is also found in rough vegetation.
The butterflies tend to keep near the food plants. The small caterpillars only feed on the flowerheads for two or three weeks. They then go down to the ground where they wait to be picked up by worker ants of the genus Myrmica and carried off to the ants' nest. There they feed on ant grubs.
The caterpillars also hibernate and pupate in the ants' nest. The species of host ant varies in different parts of its range. The Scarce Large Blue is single-brooded.
Habitat:
Mesophile grasslands
Humid grasslands
Similar species:
Maculinea arion
Maculinea nausithous
Maculinea alcon
Maculinea rebeli