Lycaena tityrus
Lycaena tityrus, the sooty copper, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Europe. Subspecies. The wingspan is . The butterfly flies from April to September, depending on the location. The larvae feed on "Rumex acetosa" and "Rumex acetosella". Description from Seitz. C. dorilis Hufn. (= circe Schiff., garbas F., phocas Rott., dorylas Kirby) (77 c) Male above black- brown, with a magnificent metallic green gloss when alive, with black spots corresponding to those of the underside and with a very thin reddish lunate line before the margin of the hindwing. Female above similar to "phlaeas , but paler yellow, and with a very thin black edge instead of a broad black marginal band. Beneath yellowish grey, with very numerous black ocelli and small russet-red spots before the margin. Throughout Europe, from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, with the exception of Great Britain; also in Asia Minor. — In the much larger subalpina" Spr. (= "xanthe" F., "montana" M.-Durr) (77 d)[now subspecies] the underside is more plumbeous grey than yellowish grey, and the red submarginal spots are reduced; from the Alps. — On the other hand, the underside of "orientalis" Stgr. (77 d) is more yellowish and  the upperside of the female entirely blackish; from Anterior Asia to the Altai. — "bleusei" Oberth. (77d) [now full species "Lycaena bleusei" ] is much brighter above, with stronger yellow variegation, and the hindwing has a short triangular tail; from Castilia. — Also in this species specimens with abnormally dark upperside have been found: males which are devoid of the red submarginal band to the hindwing above — ab. "obscurior" S. L. (= "fusca" Gillm.) — and whose females are dark like the males, also specimens with more extended light yellow area on the forewing — ab. "albicans" Fuchs (= "nyeni" Ter Haar) —, both forms being  quite inconstant. Other occasionally observed pale forms are a yellow one (ab. "fulvior" Stef.) and a white one (ab. "upoleuca" Verity). In ab. "strandi" Schultz the submarginal dots of the underside are modified to stripes, ab. "brunnea" Wheel, is an aberration of "subalpina" in which the dark upperside is devoid of the coppery sheen found in fresh "subalpina". The ab. "caeruleopunctata" of "phlaeas" is represented among "dorilis" by ab. "brantsi" Ter Haar (= "purpureopunctata" Wheel.), in which the hindwing above bears a row of whitish dots before the outer third, ab. "nana" Wheel, is only a dwarfed form. In ab . "fulvomarginalis" Schultz the narrow red-yellow band of the hindwing above is continued on to the forewing also in the male— Egg semiglobular, dull green, somewhat darker at the top, coarsely punctured. Larva light green, minutely dotted with whitish, on the back occasionally with violet sheen, some specimens bear minute red markings. It hibernates and feeds until April and again in the summer, on "Rumex". Pupa greenish or brown, with dark dorsal line and lighter sides, with minute dark dots. The butterflies occur all through the summer, in the south in three overlapping broods, on roads among fields and on  broad sunny forest-roads; they visit according to season particularly "Potentilla", "Ranunculus", "Chrysanthemum", "Thymus" and "Leontodon", and, though not confined to certain flight-places, occur sometimes in large numbers together. In the Alps "subalpina" ascends to a considerable height (Seiser Alp). In some localities dorilis flies together with "alciphron" so that Mackee considers certain intermediate specimens to be hybrids (ab. "xanthoides").