False Ilex Hairstreak

Description:

The False Ilex Hairstreak (Satyrium esculi) is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. The False Ilex Hairstreak lives in most of Spain and Portugal (with the exception of the North Western shore line). It can furthermore be found on the Balearic Islands and in the South East of France from the East of the Pyrenees upwards up to the French Alps and in the adjacent part of the Italian Alps.

Habitat:

This is a butterfly characteristic of hot dry scrub across north Africa, Iberia and the Mediterranean coast of France. In Morocco it is abundant where its food plant grows - Oaks are often the dominant plant across most of the hills of the High and Middle Atlas. A short walk anywhere in these areas yields hundreds of individuals. I have much less experience with the butterfly in Spain, and never seen it in France so presumably it is much more local in Europe. Never the less, reports suggest that where it is found it is not uncommon.