The Latin species name boeticus refers to Baetica, a province of the Roman Empire in the Iberian Peninsula . Its common name refers to the long streamers on its hind wings, the maleââ¬â¢s bright iridescent blue colour, and peas, which is the typical host plant of the butterfly.The wingspan is 24ââ¬â32 mm for males and 24ââ¬â34 mm for females.[6] In these small butterflies although unusually large for their family the males have a mainly blue violet upper face of the wings with the brown edges, while the females have only a small amount of blue colour in the centre of the wings sexual dimorphism.Both sexes have a thin, long tail in the hindwings and two black spots in the anal angle. The underface of the wings is ocher and adorned with white markings and with a larger white submarginal streak.The underface of each hindwing shows a pair of small black eye-spots beside each tail, with an orange marginal spots at the anal angle. This species is rather similar and it can be confused with Leptotes pirithous and Cacyreus marshalli although the pea-blue is significantly larger than both species.
|
