''Aricia morronensis'', the Spanish 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 found in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and

Hautes-Pyrénées Hautes-Pyrénées (; Gascon/Occitan: ''Nauts Pirenèus / Hauts Pirenèus'' awts piɾeˈnɛʊs es, Altos Pirineos; ca, Alts Pirineus alts piɾiˈneʊs English: Upper Pyrenees) is a department in the region of Occitania, southwestern France. ...

(France). 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 22–26 mm. Adults are on wing from June to September in usually one, but sometimes two generations per year. The larvae feed on the leaves of '' Erodium'' species. They are attended by ants. The species overwinters in the larval stage.

Description from Seitz

L. idas Rbr. (79 k). Above black-brown with dark median spot on the forewing, the fringes pale, only slightly darkened at the tips of the veins. Underside coffee-brown, with feeble reddish tinge, the ocelli being similarly arranged as in '' astrarche''; the hindwing with pale longitudinal streak from the centre of the wing to the middle of the outer margin, the streak being generally much more prominent than in our figure. — In the Sierra Nevada, at 1000 ft., in July.Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, ''Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter'', 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren)

Subspecies

*''Aricia morronensis morronensis'' present in Andalusia (South Spain) and South Albacete and Murcia. *''Aricia morronensis hersselbarthi'' (Manley, 1970) in Abejar (Soria, Spain) *''Aricia morronensis ramburi'' (Verity, 1913) present in Sierra Nevada *''Aricia morronensis boudrani'' (Leraut, 1999) present at the Col du Tourmalet and the Cirque de Gavarnie des Hautes-Pyrénées.

References

* (2009): Concerning ''Aricia morronensis'' in the south and south-east of Spain: new localities, a revision of its sub-specific status, and a proposal of synonymy (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae). ''Atalanta'' 40 (1/2): 193-199, 331. Full article

* (2008): The first known parasitoid of ''Aricia morronensis'' (Ribbe, 1910), an endemic Iberian species, and notes on the parasitoids (Hymenoptera; Diptera) of the genus Aricia in Europe (Lep.: Lycaenidae; Hymenoptera: Braconidae, Ichneumonidae; Diptera: Tachinidae). ''Atalanta'' 39 (1/4): 343-346, 423. Full article

Butterflies described in 1910 Aricia (butterfly) Butterflies of Europe Taxa named by Carl Ribbe {{Polyommatini-stub