''Polyommatus damon'', the Damon blue, 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 ...

Subspecies

Subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

include:Funet
/ref> * ''Polyommatus damon damon'' – (Central and Southern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

) * ''Polyommatus damon kotshubeji'' (, 1915) – (

Transcaucasia The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...

) * ''Polyommatus damon merzbacheri'' (, 1913) – (

Dzungarian Alatau The Dzungarian Alatau ( mn, Зүүнгарын Алатау, ''Züüngaryn Alatau''; ; kk, Жетісу Алатауы, ''Jetısu Alatauy''; russian: Джунгарский Алатау, ''Dzhungarskiy Alatau'') is a mountain range that lies on t ...

Mountains) * ''Polyommatus damon mongolensis'' (, 1980) – (

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

, South

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

Altai mountains The Altai Mountains (), also spelled Altay Mountains, are a mountain range in Central Asia, Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan converge, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob River, Ob have their headwaters. The m ...

) * ''Polyommatus damon noguerae'' (, 1924) – (Central and Northern

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 ...

) * ''Polyommatus damon ultramarina (Schawerda, 1924) – (

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 ...

) * ''Polyommatus damon zhicharevi'' (, 1915) – (North

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

, South East

)

Distribution and habitat

The ''Damon blue'' can be found in Central and Southern

(central

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

and the

Carpathian The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...

s) and across the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

and the Altai This mountain species inhabits dry bushy or light woodlands and open grassy places at an elevation of above sea level.Matt Rowling
Euro Butterflies
/ref> Lycaenidae - Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) damon-001

Lycaenidae - Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) damon-001

Description

''Polyommatus damon'' has a

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 ...

of 20–34 mm.Simon Coomb
Captain's European Butterfly Guide
/ref> These small butterflies present a

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

. The upperside of the wings is shining blue in males, with broad black borders and prominent veins. The upperside of the wings is brown in females. The underface of wings is ocher or pale grey-brown with a series of brown-black spots surrounded by white. Hindwings shows a white streak in both sexes. Both sexes have also a white fringe.

Description in Seitz

''L. damon'' Schiff. (= ''biton'' Sulz.) (81 h). -male large, brilliant shy-blue with a greenish tinge, the margin broadly black, the bright brown underside with or without ocelli, but always with a sharply marked white mesial streak. Female dark brown, above sometimes without traces of reddish submarginal spots. Central and South Europe, throughout Anterior and Central Asia as far as the Tian-shan. – Specimens entirely without ocelli on the hindwing beneath are ab. ''gillmeri'' Krod. (= ''caeca'' Aign.) while individuals with the ocelli distorted into oval spots or streaks, produced by Krodel by low temperature, are ab. ''extensa'' Krod. In ab. ''agraphomaena'' Verity the white streak of the underside is obsolescent, while ab. ''ferreti'' Farre is a dwarfed form of the male with narrow border on the upperside. – Larva greenish yellow, finely and densely hairy, alternately striped with paler and darker green, the head being brownish and the side-line darker or paler ydlow; until June on Esparset. The ants are so much after it that the presence of some larvae in a breeding cage in a room is sufficient to bring into the house whole crowds of ants, which gather about the cages, sometimes as many as ten ants being found on one larva. Pupa ochreous, above greenish, darker along the back. The butterflies occur in July and August on fields of Sainfoin and do not venture far away from them. They are plentiful where they occur.

Biology

The butterfly flies from June to August. The larvae feed on Onobrychis species and ''

Medicago falcata ''Medicago falcata'' is a plant species of the genus '' Medicago''. It is native to much of Europe and Asia, but is found throughout the world. It forms a symbiotic relationship with the bacterium ''Sinorhizobium meliloti'', which is capable of ...

''. Larvae are attended by ants (''

Lasius niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesLasius alienus ''Lasius alienus'', or cornfield ant, is a species of ant in the subfamily Formicinae (family Formicidae). Workers have a length of about 2–4 mm, Queens are larger (7–9 mm). Distribution They live in Europe, from Spain to the Cauca ...

'', ''

Formica pratensis ''Formica pratensis'', the black-backed meadow ant, is a species of European red wood ant in the family Formicidae. Systematic ''Formica pratensis'' is divided into these subspecies: *''Formica pratensis nuda'' Ruzsky, 1926 *''Formica pratensi ...

'').Guide des papillons d'Europe et d'Afrique du Nord, Delachaux et Niestlé,Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington, ()

Gallery

File: Lycaenidae - Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) damon - mating pair.JPG, Mating pair File: Lycaenidae - Agrodiaetus damon.JPG, Female, underface File: Polyommatus damon.jpeg, Male, underface File: Lycaenidae - Polyommatus (Agrodiaetus) damon-000.jpg, Feeding on nectar

References

External links

Lepidoptera Caucasi

Lepiforum.de
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1315003 Polyommatus Butterflies of Europe Butterflies of Asia Butterflies described in 1775