![]() Both sexes feed mainly on honeydew although females are occasionally attracted to flowers whilst taking a break from egg laying.Įggs are laid singly at the base of oak buds in late summer ready to hatch the following spring as the buds break. Males tend to stay high up in trees, females come down to lower levels to lay eggs. In Ireland it occurs in a few isolated colonies scattered across the country but is probably still under recorded due to its reclusive habits. It is common and widespread across southern and central England and Wales, becoming rarer and more isolated in the north as far as central Scotland. The hindwings have a short tail with two orange spots at the base on the underside. ![]() The underside is light grey with a white streak, edged in black, running down the middle of both wings. Males have a glossy purple sheen on the upperside, females have two patches on the forewing only. This active little butterfly is most often seen fluttering around high up in oak trees on warm sunny July and early August days. Appearance, behaviour and distribution (British Isles) They rest on the outer twigs of oak-bushes with the wings always closed, but sometimes flutter high up about the crowns of old oaks. The butterflies occur from June till August everywhere in the plains and hills, but usually singly, in certain years more plentifully. The pupa rounded, brown, irregularly spotted with blackish, on the back three rows of dark spots. On various species of oak, and said to occur also on other plants ( Myrica, etc.) adult in July. Adult yellowish brown with a reddish tint, on the back a row of triangles connected by a dark line, the sides greenish. On the other hand it is much infested with ichneumons, as well as a species of Tachina, which develops after the pupation of the caterpillar (Steinfert). It is a dreadful cannibal and is evidently avoided by insect-eating birds, as it has been found unmolested in the nest of the blue tit containing young birds (Bingham-Newland). The larva, which is already developed in the summer, does not leave the egg before April it bores into the young shoots and later lies on the young leaves, especially on those of the lower twigs of old oak-trees. Egg semiglobular, whitish grey, granulose. Underside paler silvery grey, the whitish line therefore being less prominent. (74 d).Larger, above very dark, the blue area of the male very sharply defined but not very extended. Widely distributed, occurring throughout Europe and Asia Minor from England and the Atlantic coast to Armenia and from North Europe to the Mediterranean - Beyond the Mediterranean Sea and on the Iberian Peninsula there occurs iberica Stgr. (74 d) are females with small orange spots at the apex of the cell of the forewing, which are reduced to two spots in ab. latefasciata for specimens with broader white line on the underside, ab. excessus Tutt the hindmargin of the forewing bears a coppery streak. pallescens Tutt are males with a pale grey greenish instead of blue gloss. obsoleta Tutt are females without any blue gloss there occur also transitional specimens with the blue reduced ( semiobsoleta). ![]() Underside leaden-grey, with a proximally dark-edged white line before the outer third and in the anal area of the hindwing weak yellow spots. ![]() male above with a blue gloss and narrow black distal border, the female with the basal area of the forewing blue and often the cell of the hindwing bluish. quercus longicaudatus ( Riley, 1921) - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, West Iran quercus interjectus ( Verity, 1919) - Italy ![]() quercus iberica ( Staudinger, 1901) - Morocco, Algeria, Iberia quercus quercus ( Linnaeus, 1758) - widespread The larva feeds on Quercus robur, Quercus petraea, Quercus cerris and Quercus ilex. The purple hairstreak ( Favonius quercus) is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae distributed throughout much of Europe, North Africa, Anatolia, Caucasia, and Transcaucasia. ![]()
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