Escher's Blue

(Agrodiaetus escheri)

Male 19/07/04 Spanish Pyrenees

Male 03/06/07 Var (83)

Male 18/07/04 Spanish Pyrenees

Male 19/07/07 Drôme (26)

Male 25/07/07 Drôme (26)

Female 22/07/05 Drôme (26)

Female 25/07/07 Drôme (26)

Female 27/07/05 Drôme (26)

Note vaguely eccentric 'agestis' type spot on hindwing.

This is a lovely blue species which I was very pleased to encounter for the first time in the Pyrenees. The ground colour of the male uppersides is not unlike that of P.icarus or A.thersites but on the whole he's a little larger than these species. The hindwing has characteristic half-chequering in the fringe and the marginal border is vaguely undulate. The veins are black at the margin on all upperside wings. Reference is often made to the pale blue/whitish colouration of the veins on the upper forewing particularly near the costa, but this feature can be present on other blue species too. The underside is tough to separate from Chapman's Blue but the general colour tones and thickness of the markings are somehow distinctive. In July 2005 in the Drôme there were reasonable numbers of the butterfly though all looking tired. Amongst these I found the female above with the interesting eccentric spot on the hindwing. The orange lunules on the forewing upperside of the female tend to form a rather continuous band.