Cyaniris bellis

Cyaniris bellis, the Greek mazarine blue, is a butterfly found in the Palearctic (Asia Minor, South Europe, North Africa, Transcaucasia, Iran) that belongs to the blues family.

Greek mazarine blue
Cyaniris bellis in Seitz 80 g
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Cyaniris
Species:	C. bellis
Binomial name
Cyaniris bellis (Freyer, [1842]) [1]
Synonyms
Lycaena bellis Freyer, 1845 Polyommatus bellis (Freyer, 1845) Lycaena helena Staudinger, 1862 Lycaena semiargus v. parnassia Staudinger, 1870 Cyaniris semiargus var. balcanica Tutt, 1909

Taxonomy

The subspecies C. b. antiochena (Lederer, 1861) is found in Caucasus Minor, Armenia (highlands) and the Talysh Mountains.

Description from Seitz

For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

bellis Frr. (82 e, f) is above like montana . [preceding text — montana M.-Dur (82 e) is an alpine form [of semiargus] which occurs in the higher Alps and the mountains of South-East Europe; smaller, the male bright blue above, with broader black distal border] but the hindwing beneath bears traces of yellowish red spots in anal area. In helena Stgr. (82 f), a small form from the mountains of Southern Greece, the reddish yellow spots of the underside form a continuous chain and some of them appear in the female also on the upperside, which is quite generally the case in the still more southern form antiochena Led.^[2]

Biology

The larva feeds on Anthyllis vulneraria , Trifolium pratense, Melilotus officinalis, Lotus corniculatus.

See also

• List of butterflies of Russia