Polyommatus damon meinsii

Polyommatus damon meinsii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Polyommatus
Subgenus:	Agrodiaetus
Species:	P. damon
Subspecies:	P. d. meinsii
Trinomial name
	Polyommatus damon meinsii; (Gómez-Bustillo, 1971)
Synonyms
	Plebejus damon meinsii Gómez-Bustillo, 1971

Polyommatus damon meinsii, the meinsii, is a butterfly subspecies of Polyommatus damon in the family Lycaenidae. It was discovered in 1971 by the German engineer Horst Meins Rugenstein and Dr. Miguel R. Gomez-Bustillo, who published it in Mariposas de la Peninsula Ibérica, Ropaloceros (II) in 1974.

Description

Meinsii has bigger individuals with longer wings than the subspecies Noguerae and Cabrerae. The male's front wings have bright blue scaling, turning gradually black at its outer margins, which are almost twice the width of the original species, Polyommatus damon. Their back wings are cream-grayish colored, with a white line as well as spots that are encircled by white rings. However, the females back wings are darker. Its caterpillar eats Medicago sativa (alfalfa), Medicago lupulina, Medicago media, Medicago arborea, and Lupinus albus (lupin). The Meinsii winters as a larva.

Range

The meinsii is located in the area of Castejón de Sos (900–1000 m), Province of Huesca, which is in the central Pyrenees of Spain. They usually live during July and August in mountain sides that are protected from the wind at a height between 800 m and 2000 m.

References

(Gomez-Bustillo, 1971) Orig, comb.: Plebejus damon subsp. meinsii In: Gomez-Bustillo, M. (1971): Por un mejor conocimiento de los ropaloceros españoles. — Sociedad de Ciencias Naturales Aranzadi, Publicación N° 19.
http://gni.globalnames.org/name_strings?page=2277&search_term=ns%3APOL*
"Global Names Index". gni.globalnames.org. Retrieved 2017-05-03.

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