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The list comprises butterfly species listed in The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland by Emmet et al. [1] and Britain's Butterflies by Tomlinson and Still. [2] A study by NERC in 2004 found there has been a species decline of 71% of butterfly species between 1983 and 2003. [3]
The large blue (Phengaris arion) is a species of butterfly in the family Lycaenidae.The species was first defined in 1758 and first recorded in Britain in 1795. [2] In 1979 the species became mostly extinct in Britain but has been successfully reintroduced with new conservation methods. [3]
Visual systems in butterflies are highly diverse and their color vision abilities have only begun to be explored. To see color, P. icarus uses a duplicated blue opsin in conjunction with its long-wavelength opsin LWRh. This enables the common blue to see color in the green part of the light spectrum extending up to 560 nm (2.2 × 10 −5 in).
Male P. argus have royal blue wings with a black border, white, wispy fringe, and metallic silver spots on the hindwings as well as spurs on their front legs. Females of this species are generally brown and more subdued in color, but also have the metallic spots on the hindwings. The undersides of the male and female butterflies are very similar.
Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, [1] whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterfly species.
The species is facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. VU: Vulnerable: The species is facing a high risk of extinction in the wild. NT: Near threatened: The species does not meet any of the criteria that would categorise it as risking extinction but it is likely to do so in the future. LC: Least concern
The small blue (Cupido minimus) is a Palearctic butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. Despite its common name, it is not particularly blue. The male has some bluish suffusion at the base of its upper wings but is mostly dark brown like the female. The species can live in colonies of up to several hundred and in its caterpillar stage is cannibalistic.
The butterflies in the spring and again in July, occasionally a third time at the end of August and in September, everywhere common, particularly at the flowers of ivy and brambles." [ 3 ] In Europe, the first generation feeds mainly on the holly species Ilex aquifolium but the second generation uses a range of food plants.