Aricia morronensis, the Spanish argus, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Spain and Hautes-Pyrénées (France).

Spanish argus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Genus: Aricia
Species:
A. morronensis
Binomial name
Aricia morronensis
(Ribbe, 1910)[1][2]
Synonyms
  • Lycaena morronensis Ribbe, 1910
  • Aricia idas Rambur, 1840
  • Aricia ramburi Verity, 1913
  • Aricia hesselbarthi Manley, 1970
  • Aricia morronensis ramburi
  • Aricia morronensis hesselbarthi

The wingspan is 22–26 mm.[3] Adults are on wing from June to September in usually one, but sometimes two generations per year.[4]

The larvae feed on the leaves of Erodium species.[5] They are attended by ants. The species overwinters in the larval stage.

Seitz 80k

Description from Seitz

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L. idas Rbr. (79 k). Above black-brown with dark median spot on the forewing, the fringes pale, only slightly darkened at the tips of the veins. Underside coffee-brown, with feeble reddish tinge, the ocelli being similarly arranged as in astrarche; the hindwing with pale longitudinal streak from the centre of the wing to the middle of the outer margin, the streak being generally much more prominent than in our figure. — In the Sierra Nevada, at 1000 ft., in July.[6]

Subspecies

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  • Aricia morronensis morronensis present in Andalusia (South Spain) and South Albacete and Murcia.
  • Aricia morronensis hersselbarthi (Manley, 1970) in Abejar (Soria, Spain)
  • Aricia morronensis ramburi (Verity, 1913) present in Sierra Nevada
  • Aricia morronensis boudrani (Leraut, 1999) present at the Col du Tourmalet and the Cirque de Gavarnie des Hautes-Pyrénées.

References

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  1. ^ Fauna Europaea
  2. ^ Aricia morronensis at Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera
  3. ^ Astur Natura
  4. ^ Dagvlinders van Europa
  5. ^ "butterfly-guide.co.uk". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
  6. ^ Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter, 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren)
  • Gil-T., F. (2009): Concerning Aricia morronensis in the south and south-east of Spain: new localities, a revision of its sub-specific status, and a proposal of synonymy (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae). Atalanta 40 (1/2): 193-199, 331. Full article: [1].
  • Shaw, M. & F. Gil-T. (2008): The first known parasitoid of Aricia morronensis (Ribbe, 1910), an endemic Iberian species, and notes on the parasitoids (Hymenoptera; Diptera) of the genus Aricia in Europe (Lep.: Lycaenidae; Hymenoptera: Braconidae, Ichneumonidae; Diptera: Tachinidae). Atalanta 39 (1/4): 343-346, 423. Full article: [2].