Aricia cramera

Aricia cramera, the southern brown argus, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is a butterfly of Southern Europe and North Africa and can be found from Morocco and Tunisia up to Spain and Portugal, on Mediterranean islands including Menorca and on the Canary Islands.

Aricia cramera
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Aricia
Species:	A. cramera
Binomial name
Aricia cramera Eschscholtz, 1821
Synonyms
Plebejus cramera Lycaena cramera Lycaena astrarche ab. ornata Lycaena astrarche ab. sebdouica Lycaena agestis ornata f. lilliputana Aricia cramera pallidecanariensis Aricia cramera pallidecramera

The wingspan ranges to up to 30 mm. The butterfly flies from May to September depending on the location.

The larvae feed on Erodium, Helianthemum and Geranium species.

Seitz 80a

Description from Seitz

For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

In specimens [ of astrarche ] from the Canaries the red macular band of the upperside is occasionally quite uncommonly broad and of even width, so that it forms a regular band, only transected by the black veins; this is ab. cramera Eschsch. (= canariensis Black.) (80 a). I also caught very extreme specimens of this form on the slopes of the Aures Mts. in Algeria, although only singly; on the other hand I met on the Canaries with specimens of astrarche which certainly did not belong to cramera, but rather to calida.[1]

References

1. Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter, 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren)

See also

• List of butterflies of Menorca