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Celastrina argiolus (Linnaeus, 1758)


Celastrina argiolus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Photo Information
Copyright: Paulo Henrique Lopes Rodrigues (phlr) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1277 W: 133 N: 862] (2772)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2006-07-09
Categories: Insects
Camera: FujiFilm FinePix 6900 Zoom, Fujinon 6x zoom, Digital
Exposure: f/4.4, 1/56 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2006-07-10 13:44
Viewed: 1775
Points: 72
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
This is a very beautiful Lycaenidae that we have in Portugal. Its blue colour is wonderful and captures our eyes when we saw it flying. It's very frightening and difficult to get closer to it. Fortunately, is very common and widespread in Portugal yet!

In portuguese is known as "Azulada de Primavera" and in english is known as "Holly blue".

It belongs to the Lycaenidae Polyommatinae family. Wingspan: 24mm till 28mm.

The female has a black strip on the edge of the wings. The females of second generation have the dark edge of the wings usually broader than the females of first generation. From the undersides there are some good distinguishing features; firstly the almost white ground colour with a pale, metallic blue sheen, then on the forewing there are black flecks in the fringe, "flattened" black spots in the post-discal row and the costal edge has black banding across the white.

In Portugal we have two or even three generations over the year. We can see it fly from January till October, till 1000 meters of altitude. The "Holly blue" often flies up in bushes rather than at ground level.

Their caterpillars are red or green and they feed on leafs and fruits of several plants like: Rubus, Ribes, Rhamnus, Chamaecystis, Lupinus, Vaccinium, Vicia, Cornus, Malus, Prunus, Polygonum, Quercus and Arbutus

The pupa of this specie is brown with dark shapes. It hibernates over winter in a chrysalis form. An interesting characteristic is that the chrysalis fixes itself at the underside of a leaf of their food plant falling down with it in autumn.

In Europe this specie is nearly everywhere (up to the polar circle) common. Although one never sees many individuals, the “Holly blue” is to be everywhere found. The first generation flies to very warm areas already starting from at the end of March, otherwise rather starting from the middle of April. The second generation falls into the high summer. In south of Europe, like Portugal, a further generation is possible.
valy67, extramundi, limier, isaperez, AndyB, red45, cecilia, ramthakur, sgo, eruyanik, Oz1, hansh, goutham_ramesh, firelord, microversed, peter_stoeckl, Alex99, jcoowanitwong, Kaszek, izler, RAP, cedryk, rousettus has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To hansh: Hi Hans!phlr 1 07-14 13:24
To Oz1: Hi Oz!phlr 1 07-14 13:23
To Christopher_PL: Hi Chris!phlr 1 07-14 13:22
To eruyanik: Hi Ersin!phlr 1 07-14 13:22
To carper: Hi Japp!phlr 1 07-11 14:08
To ellis49: Hi Gert!phlr 1 07-11 14:00
To sgo: Hi Goran!phlr 1 07-11 13:11
To ramthakur: Hi Ram!phlr 1 07-11 13:10
To cecilia: Hi Cecilia!phlr 1 07-11 13:10
To red45: Hi Grzegorz!phlr 1 07-11 13:10
To AndyB: Hi Andy!phlr 1 07-11 13:09
To cosmln: Hi Cosmin!phlr 1 07-11 13:09
To isaperez: Hi Isabel!phlr 1 07-11 13:08
To osse: Hi Ozcanphlr 1 07-11 13:06
To limier: Hi Thodoris!phlr 1 07-11 12:43
To wishnugaruda: Hi Wishnu!phlr 1 07-11 12:43
To extramundi: Hi Felipe and Cristina!phlr 1 07-11 12:42
To keko: Hi Jose!phlr 1 07-11 12:39
To csmnlm: Hi Cemil!phlr 1 07-11 12:38
To valy67: Hi Velarie!phlr 1 07-11 12:37
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Critiques [Translate]

Hi Paulo ! Such a cute butterfly ! I love its beautiful blue color so much, and its striped antennas are very nice too. Excellent sharpness and details, wonderful composition and POV, excellent DOF. Good note too, as usual from you. Very well done !
Valérie.

Hi Paulo!
It Is so pretty butterly.Colors is so good. I haven't seen it before.Well done!

  • Great 
  • keko Silver Note Writer [C: 6 W: 0 N: 10] (170)
  • [2006-07-10 15:00]
  • [+]

Paulo,

excellent shot, I specially like the well saturated blue, DOF and sharpness are spot on. There's nothing you could've improved on the POV, a different colored leaf would have been even better though.

I enjoy reading and learning from you with your notes.

Thanks.

Esto si que e azul!!!
Nunca vira unha con ista cor. E moi bonita.
Fai uns dias estiven a ver unha reportaxe pola TV de Maria Joâo Pires e botaron unhas vistas dos aredores de Castelo Branco, lembreime de ti :)
E unha terra mais verde do que tihna pensado.
Saudos meu amigo.

Hi Paulo,
I never saw such an intensive blue on a butterfly, it's wonderful.
Thank you so much for sharing this beauty with us
Sabine - wishnugaruda

Hi Paulo
I like to see your job.
This one is beautiful and unknown to me again.I like the blue on this green leaf,the details,the BG and your,for one more time,useful note.
TFS and see you

  • Great 
  • osse Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1029 W: 0 N: 90] (7655)
  • [2006-07-10 16:54]
  • [+]

Hi Paulo
Beautiful blue coloured butterfy shot. Good sharpnes, details, colours, light and POV. Also good note
Well done Paulo

osse

Really lovely,a true beauty!I'd be happy to see one near.
TFS!

hi Paulo,

nice image pity is not a perfect lateral view, i just made one in my last trip but decided to put an erebia... is one more interesting :), and also was a very hard one. Celastrina argiolus is very common also here (from sea level up to ~1700m) and is the first lycenid to see in the spring.

TFS this,
cosmln

  • Great 
  • AndyB Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1592 W: 32 N: 1361] (3978)
  • [2006-07-11 2:43]
  • [+]

Hello Paulo,
A nice capture of this colourful little butterfly.
Nice detail and a good composition with a clear BG.
I've never seen one of these here.
Great shot and note.

TFS

  • Great 
  • red45 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2805 W: 75 N: 7845] (26275)
  • [2006-07-11 3:26]
  • [+]

Ola Paulo!
Right, very beautifull Lycaenidae. I like its delicate wings and blue colour. Good POV and details. I know these butterflies - they like to hide in shadows and they're rather hard to capture. You made great job here, my friend!

Beautiful colour, I have'nt seen one that colour...well captured.

Very pretty species, Paulo.
Nice picture with a fine POV, DOF, colours and sharpness.
TFS.

  • Great 
  • sgo Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 136 W: 35 N: 239] (716)
  • [2006-07-11 11:47]
  • [+]

Hi Paulo,
An adorable picture of this shy and easily scared little creature! You really got a very good close-up here with wonderful colours (I've never seen it with this bright hue of blue before) and excellent clarity of details. Thank you very much for this super macro and for the informative and interesting note (however, subfamily is Lycaeninae and tribus is Polyommatini),
Goran

Hi Paulo,
this is a lovely butterfly in the blue tones, even the legs are blue.
Good details, well composed and nice POV.
The exposure are spot on.
Beautiful work, my friend.

we mis them here, Paulo,
We, teunie my wife and myself have seen a few of this blue ones with our holydays, but is was not enough for taking shots of them. I like youjr, well taken shot, good pov and nice composition, well done.
gr. jaap

i'm really happy to see your new shots! That's great you can still capture butterflies with your cam. Another beautiful butterfly here. Great shot!
Ersin

Another perfect shot. I'm really glad that sometimes you upload pictures of butterflies that are available also in my country ;-D

Chris

  • Great 
  • Oz1 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 84 W: 2 N: 170] (956)
  • [2006-07-12 7:02]
  • [+]

Hi Paulo,
Very handsome Lycanid photogrphed very well with delicate colors, great details and beautifull BG!!
Very well done and TFS!!!

  • Great 
  • hansh Gold Star Critiquer [C: 184 W: 1 N: 393] (2011)
  • [2006-07-12 12:32]
  • [+]

Very nice sharp and beuatiful colored picture. Never saw them in real, i find the blue beautiful. Thanks.
Gr. hans

Hi Paulo,
A beautiful butterfly is this "Holly blue", great colors and composition. I like the directional space that you have provided in this shot.
TFS
Goutham

  • Great 
  • arfer Gold Star Critiquer [C: 2731 W: 0 N: 0] (0)
  • [2006-07-13 22:20]

Hi paulo

Beautiful colour and DOF. An amazing shot.Very nice composition and exposure .Congratulations.TFS

Rob

An very nice picture of a blue butterfly! I wish I could meet a blue butterfly myself. The composition is great and the colors are brilliant. Sharpness and DOF also are very good. Very good work! TFS!

Regards,
Eddie

Hello, Paulo. Fantastic capture! The colours and detail are marvellous! Great POV, composition and DOF. TFS!
-Derek

  • Great 
  • Alex99 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2991 W: 148 N: 4435] (14369)
  • [2006-07-19 10:45]

Hi Paulo.
You have shared a very colorful and impressive picture. Your butterfly is superb because of its coloration, sharpness of details and allocation in the flatness of shot. BG is very interesting of its own two plans. Very good 3D effect. Well done and TFS.
Alexei.

Salve
bellissima e fortunata cattura di questo esemplare.
complimenti
ciao GianPaolo

Hello Paulo,
Welcome back from you vacation. This is really beautiful Holly Blue. Very good POV and composition. Great sharpness and exposure. Well done.
JC

Hello Paulo,
very pretty, lucky capture of that heavenly blue little Lycaenid!
We have that species in Austria too, but I met it only once this year.
Thank you!
Best regards,
Peter

  • Great 
  • Kaszek Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 260 W: 57 N: 389] (1443)
  • [2006-07-20 17:31]

Hi Paulo!
Superb shot. Great POV. I like his blue wings (polish blue sky in summer) ;)
TSF!

Hi Paulo,
Very nice capture of this small one. Nice color and details. Last week I also tried it and may be post later.

Biswarup

  • Great 
  • OzBY Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 181 W: 2 N: 303] (1049)
  • [2006-07-22 18:11]

Hi Paulo,
Very good picture of this beautiful butterfly.
Great color, light, BG, POV, DOF and sharpness.


Oz

  • Great 
  • izler Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1240 W: 78 N: 852] (7430)
  • [2006-07-25 9:44]

hi paulo
very beautiful butterfly and intereseting colours for me. blured background, depth of field, details and note are great.
thanks for sharing
regards
izler

  • Great 
  • Etka Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 96 W: 0 N: 60] (506)
  • [2006-08-02 7:32]

Witam!
Przepieknie ujety "modraszek". Wspaniale kolory i detale.
Gratuluje!

  • Great 
  • RAP Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2524 W: 345 N: 2373] (7405)
  • [2006-08-13 7:14]

Excelente macro Paulo con gran nitidez y un exacto DOF.
La belleza del color del insecto impacta aun más por el contraste producido contra el fondo verde.
Aunque la imagen fue captada a mayor distancia, son muy bonitos los detalles del ojo, las antenas y patas de la mariposa.
Hermosa presentación... sin dudas.
Saludos... Ricardo

Macro excelente o Paulo com grande claridade e um DOF exato.
A beleza da cor do inseto iguala imprensa mais para o um contraste acontecido contra o fundo verde.
Embora a imagem foi capturada a mais distância, eles são mesmos bonito os detalhes do olho, as antenas e patas do borboleta.
Apresentação bonita... sem dúvidas.
Saudações... Ricardo

... amanhã

Hello Paulo,
Fantastic colours, light and interesting perspective.
Great job!
Best greetings,
Michal

What a beautiful butterfly. Great POV and DOV, I think. and what a beautiful shade of blue...

Hi Paulo,
what a nice capture with excellent coloration. Composition, details and focus wonderful. TFS. well done.
Ahmet

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