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I noticed this butterfly in my garden recently. She loves to rest on gauras. At the same time, my Cornus sanguinea have been almost destroyed this spring by an unknown pest. Could it be that this butterfly caused this in her previous incarnation? Can you please id this butterfly to remove all suspictions? What is she doing on my gauras?

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    She's beautiful! Would you please add the location where she was found? She might be a resident or a migrator. To get the best answer and help future readers, please follow the guidelines for identification questions. If you don't want to publicize where you live, which is understandable, you can remove the part about it being your garden and just ask what it is and why it likes gaura plants. Even if we find her without the location, we still need it. Thanks!
    – Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL
    Aug 25, 2018 at 19:03
  • Btw., I suspect it’s a “he”. Male common blue or relative. And not a pest to your Cornus.
    – Stephie ♦
    Aug 27, 2018 at 9:21

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There are similar butterflies in the Polyommatus genus. This looks a lot like the common blue or the Adonis blue, both of which are fairly common in Europe. The common blue also appears in the US and Canada (with first reported sightings as recent as 2005) and its range is believed to be expanding. The one you posted looks like a male but I'm not sure as to the exact species.

As for their diet, Wikipedia lists the following as recorded larval food plants of the common blue:

  • Lathyrus species
  • Vicia species
  • Vicia cracca
  • Oxytropis campestris
  • bird's foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus)
  • Oxytropis pyrenaica
  • Astragalus aristatus
  • Astragalus onobrychis
  • Astragalus pinetorum
  • black medick (Medicago lupulina)
  • Medicago romanica
  • Medicago falcata
  • common restharrow (Ononis repens)
  • wild thyme (Thymus serpyllum)
  • lesser trefoil (Trifolium dubium)
  • Trifolium pratense
  • white clover (Trifolium repens)
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  • There is some Trifolium repens in the garden.
    – Aleksandar M
    Aug 27, 2018 at 21:53

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