Northern brown argus
The northern brown argus is a small brown butterfly from the blues family. In Scotland it often has a tiny white dot in the middle of each front wing. It lives across Europe and Asia, often in the north or up in the mountains.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
For years scientists in Britain could not agree if it was its own species or just a form of the brown argus.
Its caterpillars are friends with ants, which often stay close and look after them.
The caterpillars sleep through the winter while still small, and start eating again in spring.
In Britain the butterflies fly from mid-June to mid-July.
It is rare in Britain, and there is a special plan to protect it there.
Most asked questions about Northern brown argus
?What does the northern brown argus eat?
In Britain its caterpillars eat common rock-rose.
?Is the northern brown argus rare?
It is rare in parts of Britain, but it is widespread in Scandinavia and mountain areas of Europe.
?How is it different from the brown argus?
The Scottish ones often have a white dot on the front wing. Other forms look very alike, and experts may need to study their genes.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Aricia artaxerxes
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Lycaenidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
- Also known as
- Mountain argus, Durham argus
Where the facts come from
- Northern brown argus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Velela. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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