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Zizeeria knysna
Wing span 1.5-2 cm
Stony ground uncovered by depletion of the reservoir due to lack of rain.
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.
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.
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.
2 similar but poor focus and one as it flew, will post anyway! Give me a few minutes.
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?