Fluturat e Shqipërisë
Butterflies of Albania

Sylvain Cuvelier =
Anila Paparisto =

Last update: 14.iv.2024

Cupido minimus / Little Blue
Vogëlushja blu
Lycaenidae - Polyommatinae

Cupido minimus (Fuessly, 1775). TL: Switzerland.

1a. Cupido minimus, distribution map. Historical data ; Additional data from the 2018 update ; New observations since the 2018 update.
1b. Cupido minimus ♂upperside. Greece (© Sylvain Cuvelier)
1c. Cupido minimus copula. Greece (© Sylvain Cuvelier)
1d. Cupido minimus ♂ underside. Greece (© Sylvain Cuvelier)

Description
♂♂
Small butterfly. Fw: 10-12 mm.
Ups: dark brown-black gc with scattered silver blue scales.
Hw: no tail.
Uns: pale grey gc, basal blue flush (fresh specimens), usual marking of small, white ringed, black spots.
Unf: posdiscal series of dots nearly straight, parallel with outer maring.
Unh: postdiscal series of dots sinuous, spot in s6 displaced towards the base, small marginal dot in s2.
♀♀
Similar size.
Ups: dark brown-black gc without scattered silver blue scales.
Otherwise similar as ♂♂.

Similar species

Cupido orisis Size:similar.sligthly larger. Hw: no tail. Upf: narrow black marginal line in blue-violet gc. Uns: light grey gc. Unf: fine elongated discal spot. Unf: complete line of dots approaching margin. Unh: displaced pd spot in s6. Unf: fine elongated discal spot. ♀♀ Ups: sometimes with blue-violet basal flush. Cupido alcetas Cupido argiades Cupido decolorata Hw: tail. Compare also: Cyaniris semiargus Glaucopsyche alexis

Life cycle
Adults: single generation from April to August, sometimes a partial second generation.
Egg: 3-7 days.
Caterpillar: 18-27 days, overwintering as fully grown larva (36-48 weeks) in a wilted flower head or in the litter layer.
Pupa: about two weeks.

Habitat
Cupido minimus inhabits open, short grassland with flowering plants in dry, rocky places surronded by bushes or open forest up to 1700 m a.s.l.
Spatial requirement very modest, population density can be high.

Foodplants
Caterpillars feed on Anthyllis vulneraria, Astragalus sp., Colutea arborescens and Oxytropis sp.
Butterflies feed on small flowers, mud-puddling.

Distribution
Albania: widespread in the Northern Albanian Alps, local in other mountain areas.
Balkan: AL - BG - BIH - GR - HR - NMK - MNE - RKS - RO - SLO - SRB
Europe: IB* - IT - ALP - BAL - NWE - UK* - SCA - EEU
Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, Caucasus and further east.

Conservation status
Cupido minimus is not endangered.
Albanian Red List: LC.
IUCN Red List, category at the Mediterranean level: LC.

Useful links
Bink 2015
Pyrgus.de
Lepiforum
Euroleps

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