David Element
Wildlife Photography and Digital Video Images
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Butterflies 103 – Lang’s Short-tailed Blues
LANG'S
SHORT-TAILED BLUE BUTTERFLY Leptotes pirithous (f)
LANG'S SHORT-TAILED BLUE BUTTERFLY Leptotes pirithous (f)
LANG'S SHORT-TAILED BLUE BUTTERFLY Leptotes pirithous (m)
LANG'S SHORT-TAILED BLUE BUTTERFLY Leptotes pirithous
LANG'S SHORT-TAILED BLUE BUTTERFLY Leptotes pirithous (f)
LANG'S SHORT-TAILED BLUE BUTTERFLY Leptotes pirithous
·
Despite the inference of the vernacular name, the relative
length of the ‘tails’ on the hindwings of Lang’s Short-tailed Blue
Butterflies Leptotes pirithous
is probably little different from that of the equivalent structures on
the Long-tailed Blue Lampides boeticus. However, there should be little
difficulty in separating these butterflies as their undersides are both
distinctively marked, and neither is likely to be confused with the many other European
Blue species with spotted patterns on their underwings. Their predominantly
Mediterranean geographical ranges overlap considerably too, although that of
Lang’s Short-tailed Blue does not extend so far north. The colourful ‘eyespots’
and ‘tails’ are decoys, designed to draw the attention of predatory birds away
from the vital organs in their heads. If one of these butterflies is
encountered with a beak-shaped chunk taken out of this area of the hindwing, then
this ruse may be considered to have been successful! The above photographs were
taken in Italy and Portugal.
-> Butterflies 1,
2, 3,
4, 5,
6, 7,
8, 9,
10, 11,
12, 13,
14, 15,
16, 17,
18, 19,
20, 21,
22, 23,
24, 25,
26, 27,
28, 29,
30, 31,
32, 33,
34, 35, 36,
37, 38,
39, 40,
41, 42,
43, 44,
45, 46,
47, 48,
49, 50,
51, 52,
53, 54,
55, 56,
57, 58,
59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66,
67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83,
84,
85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100,
101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120
-> Species Index, Common Names
-> Species Index, Scientific Names
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