(Boisduval, 1840)
Gavarnie Blue
Description:
The Gavarine Blue occurs on open alpine and sub-alpine grasslands, and on bare, rocky slopes where the food plants grow on narrow ledges or in crevices. Often, the soil is calcareous and the rocks are limestone.
The most important food plant is Androsace villosa, the caterpillars feeding on both its leaves and flowers.
This butterfly passes the winter as a caterpillar and has one generation a year.
Habitat:
Alpine grasslands
Mesophile grasslands
Screes
Humid grasslands
Similar species:
Plebeius glandon
Plebeius orbitulus