Northern Brown Argus

Aricia artaxerxes

Common in Northern England in Scotland.

The Larvae feeds on Common Rock Rose.

It usually has a small white dot in the centre of the upperside forewing and the black spots on the underside are missing leaving larger white spots on the light brown background.

 So far as is known their ranges do not overlap in the UK.

The Scottish form is visually quite distinct from the Brown Argus.

The northern English populations belong to a form called salmacis called the Durham argus in English and are very similar to the Brown Argus including the presence of black spots on the under-wing hence all the confusion.

Flight period in England is from June-July & Scotland is mid-late July.