Butterfly ID
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Field guide · Norway
Blues, coppers and hairstreaks · Norway

Green-underside Blue

Glaucopsyche alexis

Green-underside Blue is a large blue damselfly with a bright, shining blue upper side in the male. It lives on sandy, dry, calcareous grasslands in southeastern Norway, and flies early in the spring, from May to July.

Status in this countryCommon in NorwayLC (Least concern)
Green-underside Blue
Photo: Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez (Lmbuga Commons)(Lmbuga Galipedia) · CC BY-SA 3.0

Flight period

The flight time is early in early summer, from May to July.

Habitat

Grass-covered and flower-rich meadows, preferably sandy and dry, calcareous sites, often in road cuts and similar locations.

Identifying features

Wingspan 27–36 mm. The male has a light, shimmering blue upperwing surface; the female is dark brown to black with a blue tone in the centre. The underside of the wings is grey with dark, somewhat large spots within white rings – particularly, the spots on the forewings are larger than the spots on the hindwings. A green patch is present at the base of the wings; the underside of the hindwing has some yellowish-orange spots.

Similar species

No confused species are described in the examined sources.

Distribution

Along the southeastern Norway coastline of Vest-Agder. Also found in Denmark and the southeastern Sweden and Finland. Rated as living (LC) in 2021.

Biology

The egg is round and flat, approximately 1 millimeter wide. The larva is light beige or yellowish-green, sometimes faintly red, with longitudinal stripes and a dark head.