Holly Blue

Holly Blue
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Genus: Celastrina
Species: C. argiolus
Binomial name
Celastrina argiolus
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms

Papilio cleobis Sulzer, 1776.
Papilio thersanon Bergstrasser, 1779.
Papilio argyphontes Bergstrasser, 1779.
Papilio argalus Bergstrasse, 1779.
Papilio (Argus) marginatus Retzius, 1783.
Lycaenopsis argiolus calidogenita Verity, 1919.
Lycaenopsis argiolus britanna Verity, 1919.

The Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus),[1] is a butterfly that belongs to the Lycaenids or Blues family and is native to Eurasia and North America.

In India, it is known as the Hill Hedge Blue.[2] The Hollie Blue is a beautiful butterfly, with pale silver-blue wings spotted with pale ivory dots. In Europe, the first generation feeds mainly on Holly (Ilex aquifolium) but the second generation uses a range of foodplants.[3]

Contents

Taxonomy

This species was originally described as Papilio argiolus by Linnaeus in 1758, and refers to the examples flying in Europe. In their monograph on the Lycaenopsis group of polyommatine genera, Eliot & Kawazoe, 1983, list 14 taxa as valid subspecies names, plus many further synonyms to which they accord lesser status. According to Eliot & Kawazoe, 1983, these 14 subspecies are divided into four groups as follows:

The argiolus group

Palaearctic & N. African

  • C. a. argiolus
  • C. a. bieneri
  • C. a. hypoleuca
=paraleuca Rober
  • C. a. mauretanica
=algirica Oberthur
The kollari group

South and South-East Asian

  • C. a. iynteana
=sikkima Moore
=victoria Swinhoe
=herophilus Fruhstorfer
=cition Fruhstorfer
=bothrinoides Chapman
=puspargiolus Chapman
=albocaeruloides Chapman
  • C. a. kollari
=kasmira Moore
=coelestina Kollar
=trita Swinhoe
The ladonides group

Far Eastern

  • C. a. caphis
=crimissa Fruhstorfer
  • C. a. ladonides
=levettii Butler
=sachalinensis Esaki
=heringi Kardakoff
  • C. a. sugurui
The ladon group

North and Central American

  • C. a. cinerea
=arizonensis Edwards
  • C. a. echo
  • C. a. gozora
  • C. a. ladon
=pseudargiolus Boisduval
=violacea Edwards
=neglectamajor Tutt
  • C. a. lucia
=neglecta Edwards
=marginata Edwards
=argentata Fletcher

Range

Found in North America, Central America, Eurasia and South Asia, it occurs from Chitral in Pakistan to Kumaon in India.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ Card for argiolus in LepIndex. Accessed 14 October 2006.
  2. ^ a b Evans,W.H.(1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies, ser no H21.24, pp 221-226
  3. ^ Butterfly Conservation A-Z of butterflies

External links