Lampides boeticus

Long-tailed pea-blue
Lampides boeticus. Underside
Lampides boeticus. Male. Upperside
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Lampides
Species:	L. boeticus
Binomial name
Lampides boeticus (Linnaeus, 1767)
Synonyms
List Papilio boeticus Linnaeus, 1767 Papilio damoetes Fabricius, 1775 Lycaena leguminis Scott, 1890 (unavailable syn) Papilio coluteae Fuessly, 1775 Papilio archias Cramer, [1777] Papilio pisorum Fourcroy, 1785 Papilio boetica Fabricius, 1793 Lampides armeniensis Gerhard, 1882 Polyommatus bagus Distant, 1886 Lampides grisescens Tutt, [1907] Lampides caerulea Tutt, [1907] Lampides caeruleafasciata Tutt, [1907] Lampides clara Tutt, [1907] Lampides clarafasciata Tutt, [1907] Lampides coerulea Tutt, [1907] Lampides ab. fasciata Tutt, [1907] Lampides fusca Tutt, [1907] Lampides ab. fuscafasciata Tutt, [1907] Lampides typicamarginata Tutt, [1907] Lampides ab. major Tutt, [1907] Lampides minor Tutt, [1907] Lampides typicafasciata Tutt, [1907] Lampides ab. albovittata Oberthür, 1910 Lampides ab. ecaudata Oberthür, 1910 Polyommatus yanagawensis Hori, 1923 Lampides obsoleta Evans, [1925] Lampides fusca de Sagarra, 1926 Lycaena ab. minor Pionneau, 1928 Lampides infuscata Querci, 1932 Lampides ab. kawachensis Hirose, 1933 Lampides anamariae Gómez Bustillo, 1973 Lampides boeticus f. michaeli Kroon, 1980

Lampides boeticus, the peablue, pea blue, or long-tailed blue, is a small butterfly that belongs to the lycaenids or gossamer-winged family.

The Latin species name boeticus refers to Baetica, a province of the Roman Empire in the Iberian Peninsula .

This species can be found in Europe, Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Australia

This species inhabits the edge of forests, mountain meadows and hot flowery places at an elevation up to 2,700 metres (8,900 ft) above sea level.

The wingspan is 24–32 mm for males and 24–34 mm for females. In these small butterflies the males have a mainly blue violet upperface of the wings with the brown edges, while the females have only a small amount of blue colour in the centre of the wings (sexual dimorphism). Both sexes have a thin, long tail in the hindwings and two black spots in the anal angle.The underface of the wings is ocher and adorned with white markings and with a larger white submarginal streak. The underface of each hindwing shows a pair of small black eye-spots beside each tail, with an orange marginal spots at the anal angle.

This species is rather similar and it can be confused with [[Leptotes pirithous and Cacyreus marshalli.

This species may have three generations a year. Adults fly from February to early November and are strong migrants. Eggs are white with a greenish tinge and have a disc-shaped form. They can reach a diameter of 0.5 mm. They are laid singly on the flower buds of the host plants.

Old caterpillars are green or reddish-brown, with dark dorsal stripe. They reach a length of 14-15 mm. Pupae reach a length of 9-10 mm. They are light grayish-brown with medium-sized dark spots and dark dorsal stripe.

The larvae feed on flowers, seeds and pods of many Fabaceae species, including Medicago, Crotalaria, Polygala, Sutherlandia, Dolichos, Cytisus, Spartium and Lathyrus species. It has also been recorded on Crotolaria pallida.

...
Wikipedia