Biology and biogeography of the chalk-hill blue Polyommatus coridon – insect of the year 2015 for Germany, Austria and Switzerland

By

Schmitt, Thomas

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2015

Original Publication

Nota lepidopterologica

Volume

38

Series / Issue

Issue: 2

Pages

107--126

Subjects

Ecology , life cycle , Lycaenidae , phylogeography

Contributed by

BioStor

Language

English

Published by

Bonn,

Identifiers

BioStor: https://biostor.org/reference/166499
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/nl.38.4977

 

Abstract

The chalk-hill blue was nominated insect of the year 2015 for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The species is strongly associated with base-rich short-turfed swards; the caterpillars feed mainly on horse-shoe vetch Hippocrepis comosa and show myrmecophilous behaviour. The species is restricted to Europe, where it is widely distributed but missing from the northern parts of the continent. Polyommatus coridon survived the last ice age in Mediterranean refugia in Italy and the Balkan Peninsula from where it colonised more northern regions postglacially.