Photo #3211: Polyommatus damocles

Male

Base gallery. Upperside. Pinned specimen.

Photo, and identified by: Boris Stradomsky. Image redone at the website

Photographer's comment: Description. The length of the forewing is 14-17 mm. In the male, the wings are blue above, shiny, with a thin dark marginal line (up to 0.5 mm); in the female, they are brown. The apex of the forewings is pointed. Below, the male's wings are light gray, with no blue basal dusting on the hindwing; in the female, they are light brown. The marginal pattern of the undergarment is very weak. On the hindwings, along the vein M3, there is a bright clear narrow white stroke, (in ssp. rossicus (Dantchenko et Lukhtanov, 1993) is absent). The length of the valva is 2.2-2.5 mm. The haploid set consists of 24-26 chromosomes. Biology. Settled meadows, stony steppes. Adult years: end of June-August in the 1st generation. Caterpillar food plants: Hedisarum spp. The caterpillar overwinters. Subspecies. Southern Urals: P. damocles damocles (Herrich-Schäffer, 1844); Volga River basin: P. damocles rossicus (Dantchenko et Lukhtanov, 1993). Related and similar species. P. damone: the apex of the forewings is rounded, blue basal pollination on the underside of the hindwings is distinct; P. ciscaucasicus: the top of the wings of males is blue-purple; P. damon: the top of the wings of males is greenish-blue; P. ripartii: the top of the wings of males is brown.