Baton Blue (Pseudophilotes baton)
2024 photographs highlighted in yellow. Click on any photograph to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
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| 9693_male_Var_11Apr08 | 28794_male_Var_21Apr12 | 36925_male_Var_16Apr15 | 41110_male_Hautes-Alpes_8Jul16 |
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| 4962_female_Var_24Apr07 | 9830_female_Var_19Apr08 | 19961_female_Var_7May10 | 36918_male_Var_16Apr15 |
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| 14571_male_Var_15Apr09 | 18172_male_Isère_12Jul09 | 28792_male_Var_21Apr12 | 28508_male_Var_12Apr12 |
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| 53267_male_Bouches-du-Rhône_1Sep24 | 53295_female_Var_1Sep24 | 50478_female_Var_31Aug22 | 42362_pair_Var_11Apr17 |
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About the size of an average Small Blue (Cupido minimus) and could easily be overlooked. It seems to have a very early flight period, more so in the far south of France, with only a limited second brood in the localities I have visited. It can often be common. |
The male is a steely grey-blue colour with chequered margins and often a series of dark marginal spots on the uph. The female is noticeably larger with a smattering of blue scales. The underside is a cleanly-spotted pattern which cannot really be confused with any other species, at least in France. |
| ref | sex |
observations |
alt. m |
| 9693 | M |
a male, in typical territorial pose. Pity about the shadow. |
185 |
| 28794 | M | a male, showing the characteristic blue of the male of this species. | 185 |
| 36925 | M | a male, slightly bluer than the usual steely grey-blue colouring of males in this region. 36918 is the underside. | 185 |
| 41110 | M | a male taking salts from the damp ground at about the upper limit of its altitude range, rather bluer than the steely grey-blue of its low altitude counterparts. | 1490 |
| 4962 | F |
a female, quite dark with limited blue scales. |
140 |
| 9830 | F | an unusual female, with strong blue scaling on the uph and the underside post-discal black spots appearing strongly on the upperside. I have never seen this elsewhere. This was actually the case - it wasn't a photographic transparency effect which can sometimes happen with backlit images. | 185 |
| 19961 | F |
a female, very fresh and unusually dark. |
220 |
| 36918 | M | a male, the underside of 36925. | 185 |
| 14571 | M |
a male, quite dark and with pale dull orange lunules. |
185 |
| 18172 | M |
a male, a very clean pale grey ground colour and slightly unusual lunules that are effectively orange between two black spots, rather than the normal lunule shape as indicated in 14571. |
1120 |
| 28792 | M | a male, the ground colour being rather browner and darker than the norm. | 185 |
| 28508 | M | a typical light silvery ground colour. On studying the magnified image, the end of the foreleg appears to be hooked, which confirms that this is a male. | 185 |
| 53267 | M | a male, nectaring on Savory (Satureja montana), a favourite nectar source of baton. | 640 |
| 53295 | F | a female, taking a break from egg-laying on Savory (Satureja montana), one of the principal larval hostplants of baton, the main one being Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) | 680 |
| 50478 | F | a second brood female. The forewing marks are exceptionally large. | 780 |
| 42362 | PAIR | a mating pair. I suspect the male is on the left, as a magnified image suggests that the end of the foreleg of the baton on the left is hooked, which would indicate male, but the magnified image was not entirely clear leaving some room for doubt. | 220 |
41110_male_Hautes-Alpes_8Jul16
53267_male_Bouches-du-Rhône_1Sep24
