French Blues

[Hardman]

Could anybody help me identify this blue (with Chalkhill, Damon and Silver-studded) seen at Valberg (alt 1700m) in SE France at the end of July? The nearest I’ve got is Chapman’s, though the arrangement of unhw spots doesn’t look quite right for Chapman’s (or for anything else, as far as I can see.)

[Roger Gibbons]

It looks very much like Mountain Argus (Aricia artaxerxes).

[David M]

It looks very much like Mountain Argus (Aricia artaxerxes).

What about the others, Roger? Is that an SSB lurking out back?

[Roger Gibbons]

It looks like an SSB from the width of the borders, with Chalk-hill and Damon as Hardman says.

Roger

[Hardman]

Thank you, Roger. I had discounted Mountain Argus. In all the photos I'd seen, the unhw spots are not aligned in the way they are in my photo, the upper two always being at more of an angle from the central spot/line. I would also have expected it to look smaller than it does in relation to the blues on either side of it. This was the only place where we saw blues puddling like this, perhaps because it was pretty wet just about everywhere. The great majority were SSBs, but just out of the photo were also Common and Amanda's. It was the only place where we found the Damon Blues.

[kevling]

Hi Hardman,

Hope you don't mind, but have PM you with a query regarding location of these.

Regards Kev