''Agriades orbitulus'', the alpine argus, is a
butterfly
Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...
of the family
Lycaenidae
Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterfl ...
. It is a high altitude species found in the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
(ranging from the French Alps to
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
and
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
), the mountains of
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
and
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, the
Urals
The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through European ...
, the
Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...
and across central Asia.
Description
The
wingspan
The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...
is 25–30 mm. The male upperside varies from sky blue to a greyish or steely blue, and is unmarked apart from the narrow black borders and white fringes. The female is brown, often with a slight blue dust suffusion at the wing bases. The fore-wings end in a very pointed apex. Both sexes are clearly assigned by conspicuous white spots on the otherwise pale greyish brown or beige wing underside. The spots under the hind-wing are pure white and lack black centres. The butterfly flies from June to August depending on the location.
Ecology
The larvae feed on several species of ''
Astragalus'' (''
A. alpinus'', ''
A. australis'', ''
A. frigidus'', ''
A. norvegicus'' and ''
A. penduliflorus''), two species of ''
Oxytropis'' (''
O. campestris'' and ''
O. montana'') and on ''
Hedysarum hedysaroides''.
Subspecies
Subspecies include:
* ''A. o. orbitulus''
(Prunner, 1798)
* ''A. o. luxurians''
(Forster, 1940)
* ''A. o. lobbichleri''
(Forster, 1961)
* ''A. o. tatsienluica''
(Oberthür, 1910)
* ''A. o. major''
(Evans, 1915)
* ''A. o. pheretimus''
(Staudinger, 1892)
* ''A. o. sajana''
(Rühl, 1895)
* ''A. o. tyrone''
(Forster, 1940)
* ''A. o. shanxiensis''
Murayama, 1983
* ''A. o. tibetana''
(D'Abrera, 1993)
* ''A. o. qinlingensis''
(Wang, 1998)
* ''A. o. demulaensis''
(Huang, 2001)
* ''A. o. dongdalaensis''
(Huang, 2001)
* ''A. o. litangensis''
(Huang, 2001)
* ''A. o. jugnei''
(Churkin, 2004)
References
Agriades
Butterflies of Europe
Butterflies described in 1798
Taxa named by Leonardo De Prunner
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