Small blue
The small blue is a tiny butterfly, and funny enough, it is hardly blue at all. It is mostly dark brown, and the male has just a sprinkle of blue near his body. Underneath, its wings are silvery with little black dots.
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Fun facts
It is the smallest butterfly in Britain.
A mother lays just one egg on a flower and hides it between the tiny blossoms.
After laying an egg, she rubs her tail on the flower to leave a smell that tells other mothers: this one is taken.
If two caterpillars hatch on the same flower, one may eat the other.
Males sip salt and minerals from mud puddles and even from dung.
Most asked questions about Small blue
?Is the small blue really blue?
Not much. It is mostly dark brown. Only the male has a few blue scales near his body.
?How big is the small blue?
Its wings are only about 1.6 to 2.7 centimetres from tip to tip.
?What does the small blue caterpillar eat?
The flowers and young seed pods of pea plants, especially kidney vetch.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Cupido minimus
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Lycaenidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Small 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.
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