Butterflies several days old are often worn and patternless, creating confusion for collectors and scientists. The Inconspicuous Blue is the most common and widespread of Nabokov's genus Paralycaeides. When Nabokov first studied this species, he realized it belonged in a unique genus. On the sides of this volcano in Chile, Israeli lepidopterist Dubi Benyamini discovered a new Blue which he named after his daughter, Sigal. He also found three rare species of Nabokov s Blues.
Blues are common in the alpine shrub-steppe of the high Andes.
Here, in northwestern Argentina, Dr. Kurt Johnson and his colleagues often found blues clustered on these yellow flowering bushes. In Nabokov s pioneering Harvard publication on Latin American Blues in 1945, a few of his most important specimens hailed from the flanks of this huge volcano on the border of Bolivia and Chile. Because of this, as recorded in Nabokov s Blues , modern scientists had to revisit the region, an adventure that even in the summer in South America got them stuck in ice and snow. To Dr. Kurt Johnson, and also to the many others who so graciously assisted me in coordinating this first in a series of two articles featuring endangered Blues butterflies. The following excellent sites are featuring vital data in a united effort to inform readers about the endangered status of both Nabokov Blues and Karner Blues.