Small Blue Butterfly

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Small Blue - Cupido minimus.jpg
Scientific Name: 
Cupido minimus
Wingspan: 
25mm
Description: 

The male has a bit of blueish suffusion at the base of is upperwings but is mostly dark brown like the females. The undersides is a silvery grey with small black dots. The male has a blueish tint at the base of the wings similar to the upperside. Our smallest resident butterfly is easily overlooked, partly because of its size and dusky colouring, but partly because it is often confined to small patches of sheltered grassland where its sole foodplant, Kidney Vetch, is found. Males set up territories in sheltered positions, perching on tall grass or scrub. Once mated, the females disperse to lay eggs but both sexes may be found from late afternoon onwards in communal roosts, facing head down in long grass. The butterfly tends to live in small colonies and is declining in most areas.

Distribution: 

Found throughout Britain and Ireland but rare and localised.

Habitat: 

The butterfly breeds in a range of dry sheltered grasslands where Kidney Vetch grows, including: chalk and limestone grassland, coastal  grassland and dunes, and man-made habitats such as quarries, gravel pits on eskers, road embankments, and disused railways. Sites are usually sheltered and contain sparse or eroding vegetation where Kidney Vetch seedlings can become established and where flowering plants are abundant. The best habitats typically contain a mosaic of short and tall vegetation and patches of light scrub.

Diet: 
The sole foodplant is Kidney Vetch. The larvae live only in the flower heads where they feed on developing anthers and seed.
Status: 
  • UK BAP status: Proposed Priority Species
  • Butterfly Conservation priority: high
  • European threat status: not threatened
  • Fully protected in Northern Ireland, protected in Great Britain for sale only
    • Did You Know?: 

    This is the smallest British resident butterfly.