Common blue
The common blue is a small butterfly. The boys have shiny violet blue wings with a thin black edge and a white fringe. The girls are mostly brown with a row of orange spots, sometimes with a little blue. It flutters over flowery meadows in summer.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
How big is Common blue compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Its caterpillar is small, pale green with yellow stripes, and looks a bit like a little slug.
In 2023 people in Israel voted it their national butterfly, partly because its blue and white colours match their flag.
It was first found in North America in Canada, where an amateur bug watcher spotted it between 2005 and 2008.
It lives from the seaside all the way up to mountain meadows almost 3 kilometres high.
Under its wings it has lots of little black dots with white rings, like tiny eyes.
Most asked questions about Common blue
?What does the common blue butterfly eat?
The butterfly drinks flower nectar. Its caterpillar eats bird's foot trefoil and similar meadow plants.
?Are female common blues blue?
Usually not. Females are mostly brown with orange spots and a little blue near the body, though some are quite blue.
?How big is the common blue?
Its wings are about 3 centimetres across.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Polyommatus icarus
- Named by
- Rottemburg, 1775
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Lycaenidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa, Asia, North America
- Also known as
- European common blue, Little blew argus, Mixed argus
Where the facts come from
- Common blue (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
Monarch butterfly
Peacock butterfly
Blue morpho
Old World swallowtail
Small white
Eastern tiger swallowtail
Striped lynx spider
Sloe bug
Army cutworm
Mediterranean spotted chafer
Robust cicada
Nosy pill woodlouse_male_Turna.jpg){kind=link}