Brown Argus

Aricia agestis

Common in Southern England & Wales.

The typically slug-like lycid larvae are green with a pale line along each side and always attended by ants. 

The Larvae feeds on Common Rock Rose.

They can be mistaken for other Female Blues but the brown argus never has any blue scales at the base of the wings like other Female Blues often do.

It could also be mistaken for the Northern Brown Argus (Aricia artaxerxes) were it not for the fact that their ranges do not overlap in the UK.

The underside has the typical "blue" pattern of a greyish/brownish ground colour with black spots outlined in white and a row of orange spots along the border.

Adults on the wing in May and June and again in late July till mid-September.