David Element
Wildlife Photography and Digital Video Images
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Butterflies 115 – Common Blues
COMMON BLUE BUTTERFLY Polyommatus
icarus (m)
COMMON BLUE BUTTERFLY Polyommatus
icarus (m); RED MITE Trombidium
breei
COMMON BLUE BUTTERFLY Polyommatus
icarus (m); RED MITE Trombidium
breei
COMMON BLUE
BUTTERFLY Polyommatus icarus (m); RED MITE Trombidium
breei
·
Male Common Blue Butterflies Polyommatus
icarus are illustrated roosting and feeding
on Broad-leaved Everlasting Pea Lathyrus latifolius
in late summer – this plant is highly attractive to butterflies. Two Red
Mite Trombidium breei
larvae may be seen clearly in the final three photographs – these ‘passengers’
are often to be found hitching a lift on butterflies, and in particular Browns,
Blues and Skippers (their presence is almost certainly opportunistic, and there
is probably a stronger relationship with the feeding behaviour of those species
than their specificity). The mites are believed to not cause any significant
damage by feeding on small quantities of haemolymph, although in the event of a
very heavy parasite load this relationship may not hold true (these
observations are extremely difficult to confirm in wild butterflies), and male
butterflies are more likely to be selected hosts than females. Whether there is
any significance to this relationship is unknown, but again this could be
associated with the feeding behaviour of the male butterflies and their
likelihood of greater mobility when searching for females rather than deliberate
host-selection based on the sex of the host.
-> 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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