Sooty copper

Lycaena tityrus
Gossamer-winged butterflies (Lycaenidae)

♂, first generation with orange staines.
Sooty copperon RikenMon's Nature.Guide

CC-BY-SA 2.0 rights : Gilles San Martin

Brown butterfly with a little orange, the markings and the colour is variable depending on generation and region.

First generation:
Topside ♂ dark brown with black markings and a purple glow. Along the rear edge small orange markings, under surface is grey with similar markings. The ♀ has orange front wings with black markings and a brown rear wing with an orange edge with brown markings. The under surface has similar markings but the rear wings are greyish. 

Second generation:
The ♂ lacks the purple glow and orange markings. The upper surface ♀ is same. For both sexes, the under surface is sulphur-yellow with black markings and an orange band along the edge.

In south Europe the ♂ looks like the ♀ but above the timberline the ♀ is more like the ♂.  Especially found in the mountains where there is often only one generation a year.

⇔ wsp. 28–30 mm

syn. HEODES TITYRUS

LA:
≈ The LYCAENA VIRGAUREAE (Scarce copper) has fewer markings at the under surface, some of them are clear white. 
The other 'Coppers' have a blue under surface.

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