Photo #3217: Polyommatus coelestina

Female

Base gallery. Lateral/Underside. Pinned specimen.

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

Photographer's comment: Description. The length of the forewing is 12-16 mm. In the male, the upper wings are intensely blue, shiny, with a marginal darkening up to 1.5 mm wide; in the female, they are brown, often with a basal blue coating and orange marginal wells on the hindwings. Below, the wings of the male and female are gray. The underwing pattern consists mainly of a postdiscal row of spots; females sometimes have a noticeable marginal pattern on the hindwings. Strongly developed basal blue or green dusting on the hindwings. The length of the valva is 1.8-2.0 mm. Biology. Steppes of various types. Adult years: May-June in the 1st generation. Caterpillar food plants: Vicia spp., Melilotus, spp., Trifolium spp. The caterpillar overwinters. Related and similar species: P. semiargus: the upper part of the wings is dull blue, the basal blue coating on the underside of the hindwings is weaker, differences in the genitals; G. alexis: a different shape of the postdiscal row of spots on the underside of the forewings, significant differences in the genitals.