just maybe a brown argus ?

[Naturenutz]

I think this just maybe a brown argus,taken 1st week of august. I would like your opinions please folks as i know how hard these are .I know there are common blues in the meadow but i hav'nt found an argus before,but this one looked to have slightly more defined markings or maybe its wishful thinking

[GuyF]

I agree, it's a Brown Argus, nice photo too!
Guy

[Ollie]

I agree with Guy you found your first Brown Argus in the meadow. They seem to have done better on the second broods than the first broods as do the Common Blues

[ChrissyMarie]

Apart from the lack of blue towards the body, how can you tell?

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by ChrissyMarie

Apart from the lack of blue towards the body, how can you tell?

As you said the lack of Blue is one sign. A couple of others signs are the Common Blue has an additional spot on the under wing that the Brown Argus does not have.

There is also a black spot on the forewing of a Brown Argus, It is not so obvious in the Common Blue. Brown Argus is slightly smaller although this is very difficult to differentiate unless you see them both together.

Three examples below from my Gallery.

First a Common Blue with the additional under wing spot.


Brown Argus, Note the missing wing spot


Brown Argus showing the black spot on the forewing

[Amberjhons]

I also think it just maybe a brown argus ?


http://xexexexexexexexexe.com

[Jonners]

Lovely clear photos Roger, and very informative..... However, I can't see the extra spot that the Common Blue has I can count 10 black-centred white spots surrounding a larger splodge on the underwing (hind wing) of each butterfly. The splodge on the Brown Argus isn't as dark centred as the Blue, but otherwise I'm confused. Can you help please?

[GuyF]

Here are a few more shots to show some of the differences.
First a Common Blue by Roger.

The extra spot is on the underside of the forewing, it's the closest spot to the butterflies body, in this photo by Ian Gray you can see that on a Brown Argus there is no spot there.

Another useful feature is that on the Brown Argus the two spots at the top of the hindwing underside are very close together, forming a 'colon', whereas in Common Blues the spots are further apart. It's tricky to describe the spots, but hopefully that's made some sense!

Here's a shot of a female Common Blue by welsh.lensman, on Brown Argus there may be a bluey sheen but they never have the blue scales on the upperside like this Common Blue, the orange markings are also much better defined on the Brown Argus, especially in females.


Guy

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by Jonners

Lovely clear photos Roger, and very informative..... However, I can't see the extra spot that the Common Blue has I can count 10 black-centred white spots surrounding a larger splodge on the underwing (hind wing) of each butterfly. The splodge on the Brown Argus isn't as dark centred as the Blue, but otherwise I'm confused. Can you help please?

Guy has summed it up very nicely. Maybe the underwing photos I chose weren't as clear to an inexperienced eye as they could have been.

The two examples Guy have given show it more clearly. It's certainly not always easy to tell them apart especially when they are a little worn.

[Jonners]

Originally Posted by Ollie

Guy has summed it up very nicely. Maybe the underwing photos I chose weren't as clear to an inexperienced eye as they could have been.

The two examples Guy have given show it more clearly. It's certainly not always easy to tell them apart especially when they are a little worn.

Thanks Guy and Roger. My inexperienced eye would find them difficult to tell them apart whether worn or not, I reckon. However, now that you've so kindly given those pointers, I will know what to look out for, or not, if you know what I mean.