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Sticker of Reverdin's blue
Bug card No. 3624 of 4,939

Reverdin's blue

Plebejus argyrognomon
Name means: “its Latin name means a silver pointer on a sundial”
Eats: Nectar and pollenButterfliesGardens and meadows6 legs

Reverdin's blue is a small butterfly. The male is violet-blue on top with a white fringe, and the female is dark brown with orange spots. Underneath, both have black dots and tiny shiny blue-green spots.

Lives in
Central and southern Europe, the Caucasus, southern Siberia, Mongolia and Japan
Wingspan
2.8 to 3.4 cm (1.1 to 1.3 in)
Top speed
about 11 km/h (6.8 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
The butterflies drink nectar from flowers. The caterpillars eat clover, vetch, alfalfa and other plants of the pea family.
For real!Photo of Reverdin's blue
Picture by Rosenzweig. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Reverdin's blue wings about 3.4 cm tip to tip (1.3 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
wings as wide as 6 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 34 seconds

How big is Reverdin's blue compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Ants look after its caterpillars, and the caterpillars give them a sweet drink in return.

2

It has two families a year, flying from May to August.

3

The caterpillar is pale green with orange-brown stripes and grows to about 2 centimetres.

4

It lives on flowery grassy places, from 200 to 1,500 metres above the sea.

5

It is named after Jacques-Louis Reverdin, a Swiss doctor who studied butterflies.

you asked

Most asked questions about Reverdin's blue

?What do Reverdin's blue caterpillars eat?

Pea family plants like clover, vetch and alfalfa.

?Why are ants friends with blue butterfly caterpillars?

The ants guard the caterpillars, and the caterpillars give the ants a sweet drink.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Plebejus argyrognomon
Group
Butterflies
Family
Lycaenidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae
Lives on
Europe, Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Plebejus argyrognomon (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Rosenzweig. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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More from the same group: Butterflies

Also at home here: Gardens and meadows

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