| Family | Lycaenidae |
|---|---|
| Subfamily | Polyommatinae |
| Genus | Agriades |
| Species | orbitulus |
| Authority | (Prunner, 1798) |
| English Name | Alpine Blue |
| European Red List 2010 | Least Concern (LC) |
|---|---|
| EU 27 Red List 2010 | Least Concern (LC) |
| European Red List 2025 | Least Concern (LC) |
| EU 27 Red List 2025 | Least Concern (LC) |
| Habitats Directive | |
| Bern Convention | |
| CITES |
In the Alps, the Alpine Blue is mostly found on sunny, rocky slopes, scree slopes with patches of flower-rich vegetation, and often on the rough vegetation growing beside streams. These butterflies usually fly to lower-lying areas in search of nectar. The foodplants are Alpine Milk-vetch (Astragalus alpinus), Alpine Sainfoin (Hedysarum hedysaroides), and probably Mountain Beaked Milk-vetch (Oxytropis jacquinii). In Scandinavia, this blue occurs in the mountains on open, damp slate slopes where its foodplant Alpine Milk-vetch grows. The Alpine Blue hibernates as a small caterpillar and has one generation a year. Agriades sephirus (FRIVALDSZKY, 1835) By some authors this species, described from Bulgaria, is treated as a subspecies of Plebejus pylaon (FISCHER, 1832) and as a distinct species by others. Other taxa besides P. pylaon, which are closely related to P. sephirus, are P. hespericus (RAMBUR, 1839) from Spain and the Alpine P. trappi (VERITY, 1927). All of them are not treated here due to their limited distributions. It occurs eastwards of the river Danube to the Dnepr region and southwards through Transylvania to the Balkans. Its habitats are loess steppes and calcareous terrains in the forest steppe belt from sea level to 1600 m. Larval host-plants are Astragalus species. The caterpillars are facultatively myrmecophilous and are guarded by many different ant species. It has one short generation in May, June or July, depending on altitude and latitude. It hibernates as a small larva.
Austria / France / France: Mainland / Germany / Italy / Italy: Mainland / Liechtenstein / Norway / European Russia / Slovenia / Sweden / Switzerland /