Lampides boeticus in Crete, Greece (Long-tailed Blue)

Lampides boeticus, Crete - photo © Ch. Almpantakis

Lampides boeticus

BUTTERFLY INFO

Lampides boeticus is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae on the island of Crete, Greece.

Scientific name

Lampides boeticus (Linnaeus, 1767)

Common name

Long-tailed Blue, Pea Blue

Classification

Family: Lycaenidae > Subfamily: Polyommatinae > Tribus: Polyommatini > Genus: Lampides

Wingspan

Male to female: 30-35 mm

Appearance

On the upper side of the wings, the males have a blue-purple color with a very thin dark brown band in the submarginal area, while the females appear to be light brown colored with blue shades in basal and discal areas.

The underside of the wings is light brown and adorned with several small white bands and a larger white submarginal streak. Beside each tail, on each hindwing, there is a pair of small half-black half-green blue eye-spots and small orange marginal spots at the anal angle.

Both sexes have the same appearance on the underside of the wings.

Behavior

The antennae-like “tails" on the hindwings, along with the colorful eye-spots at the anal angle, create the impression of a false head and divert the attention of birds away from the body. It has a quick flight.

Habitat

Lampides boeticus in Crete is present in various habitats such as gardens with legumes, meadows, ruderal areas or hot scrub, riverbanks, and mountain fields.

Food plant

The larva feeds on Fabaceae (Medicago sativa, Spartium junceum) plants.

Flight Period

The butterfly flies in at least 2 generations per year.

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec

Remarks

Long-tailed Blue could be possibly confused with Lang’s short-tailed blue (Leptotes pirithous), but there are significant differences in fingerprint patterns on the underside of the wings. Additionally, Lampides boeticus is larger than Leptotes pirithous.