(Denis and Schiffermüller, 1775)
Alcon Blue
Description:
The Alcon Blue occurs in local, scattered populations, on low-lying wet heathland, on moist fen meadows and bogs.
Usually, only a few butterflies are seen. The bright, white eggs are easy to find. They are laid on the flowers and sepals of Marsh Gentian (Gentiana pneumonanthe), and sometimes on Cross Gentian (G. cruciata) or Willow Gentian (G. asclepiadea). At first, the small caterpillars feed on the ovaries of the food plant, but they pass the last instar in the nests of various Myrmica ants, M. ruginodis, M. scabrinodis, and sometimes M. rubra. They parasitize on the ants, living as young cuckoos, being fed by the worker ants and also helping themselves to ant grubs. They hibernate and pupate in the ant nests.
The Alcon Blue has one generation a year.
Habitat:
Heath and shrub
Mesophile grasslands
Humid grasslands
Similar species:
Maculinea arion
Maculinea teleius
Maculinea nausithous
Maculinea rebeli