European Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus)
Place observed
Former golf course area
Habitat
This pretty little butterfly is widespread in Europe and in the temperate region of Asia. Recently, it has also been observed in Quebec, in the region of Montreal, where it was introduced in 2005. It is prolific and produces, from May to October, up to two or even three generations. However, in colder regions like ours, it lives for just a single generation in June and July.
It lives in various places such as meadows, roadsides and gardens. In Rosemère, the data indicates that it has been observed several times in the vicinity of the old golf course.
Description and reproduction
Its life begins as a small whitish egg that a female has laid on the leaf of a plant of the legume family (Fabaceae), which includes more than 19,500 species. After some time, a small, stocky caterpillar emerges with a black head and green body with a dark green central line and whitish lateral lines. As an adult, the caterpillar has become a butterfly and the male and female have different upper wing colors: the male is purplish blue with a thin brownish border and whitish fringe, while the female is brownish with bluish highlights of varying intensity, plus small circular orange spots and whitish fringe.
In both cases, the underside of the wings is strewn with small black dots circled with white and a series of small orange spots, more or less marked depending on the subspecies. The background color, however, is brownish in the female and gray-beige in the male.
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