Aricia agestis

• Subfamily: Polyommatinae - Polyommatini
• Wingspan: 22-24 mm
• Flight period: Apr - Jul
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Cistaceae - Geraniaceae

Information

The Aricia agestis, also called Brown Argus it's a small butterfly of the Lycaenidae family has a wingspan of approx. 22-24 mm. In Europe it is present practically everywhere with the exception of Portugal, Ireland, Norway, Finland and other Baltic countries.

Present practically everywhere in Italy from the basal to the mountain level up to 1600 m. and it is also present in Sicily. *
It is a thermophilic species, and it is easy to observe it flying during the hot hours of the day.

The background color of the wings in both sexes is brown with the presence of orange moons at the edges of the wings. The underside of the wing is gray-blue with black dots surrounded by white and marginal orange moons, bordered, towards the margins, by black. **

Bivoltine butterfly (in rare cases trivoltine), does not show sexual dimorphism. The first generation flickers from the beginning of Ma y, the second more or less in July.
It particularly loves limestone areas, but it can also be found on open meadows and woods. It overwinters in the larva stage.

The caterpillar is green with a purplish streak.**

The host plants are Helianthemum nummularium, Erodium cicutarium and Geranium molle.


*Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/
** Bestimmungshilfe für die in Europa nachgewiesenen Schmetterlingsarten - http://lepiforum.de/