Everes argiades, female, Aggtelek, Hungary – Peter Bruce-Jones
Introduction
The genus Everes comprises of 7 species distributed variously across North America, Europe, Asia, the Oriental region and Australia. It is regarded by some authorities as a subgenus of Cupido which consists of a further 11 Eurasian species.
Everes argiades is distributed from western Europe to Siberia, China and Japan.
Habitats
This species inhabits flowery meadows, woodland clearings and forest edge habitats at elevations between sea level and about 1500m according to locality.
Everes argiades, female, Aggtelek, Hungary – Peter Bruce-Jones
Lifecycle
The larval foodplants include Lotus, Coronilla, Medicago, Trifolium and Astragalus ( Fabaceae ).
Adult behaviour
Both sexes visit flowers, and tend to spend a long time on each plant, walking about over the flower heads as they probe different parts of the nectaries with their short proboscises. When feeding they always hold their wings erect, but they can also often be seen basking on foliage with their wings held half open.