Common Blue butterfly - Polyommatus icarus (Female)

Common Blue butterfly - Polyommatus icarus (Female)

Description

Title:
Common Blue butterfly - Polyommatus icarus (Female)
Caption / Description:

A female Common Blue butterfly rests on a willowherb flower.

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_blue):

The Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) is a small butterfly in the family Lycaenidae.

Male uppersides are an iridescent lilac blue with a thin black border. Females are brown with a row of red spots along the edges. They usually have some blue at the base of the wings and, especially in Ireland and Scotland, are mostly blue but always have the red spots. Undersides have a greyish ground colour in the males and more brownish in the females. Both sexes have a row of red spots along the edge of the hindwings (extending onto the forewings though generally fainter, particularly in the males where they are sometimes missing altogether). There are about a dozen black centered white spots on the hind wings, nine on the forwings. The white fringe on the outer edge of the wings is not crossed with black lines as it is in the Chalkhill and Adonis Blues, an important difference when separating these species, particularly the females.

It is Britain's (and probably Europe's) most common and most widespread blue, found as far north as Orkney and on most of the Outer Hebrides. Males are often very obvious as they defend territories against rivals and search out the more reclusive females. A range of grassland habitats are used: meadows, coastal dunes, woodland clearings and also many man made habitats, anywhere where their food plants are found.

It is widespread in Europe, North Africa and temperate Asia.

Tags / Keywords:
  • Biota
  • Life
  • Vitae
  • Eukaryota
  • Animalia
  • Animals
  • Arthropoda
  • Arthropods
  • Insecta
  • Insects
  • Lepidoptera
  • Moths
  • Brown
  • Butterflies
  • Skippers
  • Lycaenidae
  • Gossamer-winged butterflies
  • Blues
  • Polyommatus
  • Polyommatus icarus
  • Common Blue
  • Female
  • Flower
  • Willowherb

Admin

Date Original Photo Taken:
Original File Name:
_MG_3574.CR2
Event:
Rating:
Date this image added/last updated on website:
Original File Dimensions:
4272px x 2848px
File Type:
JPEG
Color Mode:
RGB
Original Image Color Profile:
Adobe RGB (1998)

Location

Location Created:
Sublocation:
City:
Market Harborough
Province/State:
Leicestershire
Country:
United Kingdom
World Region:
Europe
Geo-location:

Rights

Copyright Status:
Copyrighted
Licensing Status:
Rights Managed
Available for Editorial Use:
Yes
Available for Commercial Use:
Yes
Copyright Notice:
© 2010 Dave Kennard

Camera Data

Date Digital Resource was created:
Shutter speed:
1200 s
Aperture:
f/8
Camera Model:
Canon EOS 450D
ISO:
100
Exposure Compensation:
0
Focal Length:
100mm
Focal Length (35mm equiv.):
Metering Mode:
Multi-segment
Flash:
On, Fired
Exposure Mode:
Manual
White Balance:
Manual
Light Source:
Exposure Program:
Manual

Additional shooting metadata

Lens:
Canon EF 100mm F2.8 Macro USM
Filters used:
Additional Optics used:
Setup:
Handheld
Canon MT-24EX Macro Twin Flash with Home-made Concave diffusers

Post Processing

Image Modified:
Software used:
  • Adobe Camera RAW
Post Processing:

-0.3 exposure compensation in ACR
18 recovery in ACR