#2922 · 🦋 butterflies & moths

Small Blue

🇳🇱 Dwergblauwtje ·Cupido minimus

LCleast concern 🦋 Butterflies & moths 📍 in the Netherlands

8 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

1. © Mirko Tomasi · CC BY-NC 4.0
2. © Gitte Langgaard Jensen · CC BY-NC 4.0
3. © Charlie Jackson · CC BY 4.0
4. © Chris van Swaay · CC BY-NC 4.0
5. © Mirko Tomasi · CC BY-NC 4.0
6. © Ferran Turmo Gort · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
7. © S. Rae · CC BY 4.0
8. © gailhampshire · CC BY 4.0

what is it?

The small blue ( Cupido minimus ) is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. Despite its common name, it is not particularly blue. The male has some bluish suffusion at the base of its upper wings but is mostly dark brown like the female. The species can live in colonies of up to several hundred and in its caterpillar stage is cannibalistic. The small blue is known for being the smallest butterfly found in the United Kingdom. It...

base stats

NL sightings 18iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 10,557iNaturalist observations
threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).