Scarce Large Blue
Maculinea telejus
Male underside
Female underside
Male underside
Male upperside
Female upperside
Male upperside
All these pictures were taken in July 2004 at a site in Switzerland where dusky large blue was also flying. This is a very scarce butterfly, restricted to a few marshy meadows where the foodplant, great burnet, grows in abundance. The female is very similar to the dusky large blue from the upperside but the male is quite different, being clear blue and officially having small blue spots on the uppersides of both wings - in all my individuals the spots on the forewing were vestigial or absent. Nevertheless, the general appearance is very distinctive, with dark veins reaching in from the broad border and enclosing paler areas of wing. The butterfly is protected wherever it flies.