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African Grass Blue

Zizeeria knysna

Description:

Wing span 1.5-2 cm

Habitat:

Stony ground uncovered by depletion of the reservoir due to lack of rain.

1 Species ID Suggestions

African Grass Blue
Zizeeria knysna


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12 Comments

I have added the details supplied by Teresa, who I would like to specifically thank. Having searched further I found the 4th picture on the following site to be a very close match. This would make this spotting a female also.
http://www.guypadfield.com/africangrassb...
Thank you all for your help.

Looks more like African Grass Blue (Zizeeria knysna). Not a Pseudophilotes as doesn't have chequered border. Underwing would confirm, but African Grass Blue is one of the few lycaenids flying at this time of year in Spain that isn't actually blue...

There were several of these about and I'm not sure if my spotting was one or two different ones. They didn't stay still long.

bayucca
bayucca 11 years ago

Very worn indeed and the colors are also changing depending on the angulation of the light. Open wing shots are all very similar in these blues. You "almost always" need a view from the ventral to check the spots, in yours I might guess there are some larger ones, that's the reason why I "ruled" Glaucopsyche alexis out...

It's certainly the closest match I've seen so far, the white border to the wings is not so clearly defined but it could be very worn. I have e-mailed the spotting link to the EIG local contact, lets wait and see.

bayucca
bayucca 11 years ago

Polyommatinae, what about Pseudophilotes panoptes???
http://www.bc-eig.org.uk/spain.htm
http://blogueiros.axena.org/2012/03/14/c...
Just a shy guess...
Probably not possible to get closer than the subfamily.

Posted 3 more pics.

2 similar but poor focus and one as it flew, will post anyway! Give me a few minutes.

bayucca
bayucca 11 years ago

Any other shot??

Thanks bayucca, will look it up.

bayucca
bayucca 11 years ago

Lycaenidae/Hairstreak, not a skipper. Most probably a female.

Hi Andrés, thanks for the suggestion, I checked this against several internet pictures of Gegenes pumilio and they all show a broad head with the eyes far apart and facing the sides. On my picture the eyes appear to be close together and looking upwards, is this possible?

Córdoba, Andalucía, Spain

Spotted on Oct 20, 2012
Submitted on Oct 27, 2012

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