Bug FAQMazarine Blue
Cyaniris semiargus · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Lycaenidae
The Mazarine blue is a small butterfly with a wingspan of about 32 to 38 mm; males are deep blue with black borders, females are brown on the upperside. It lives in meadows, pastures and damp grassy areas up to 2200 m, and is found across continental Europe, the Arctic Circle, Morocco, the Middle East and east through Siberia to the Russian Far East. Caterpillars feed on red clover and other legumes, the species has one generation per year, overwinters as a young larva and adults fly from May to August.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Males have deep blue wings with heavy veins, black borders and white fringes; females are brown on the upperside, both lack orange markings and have dark violet or brown bodies.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
The wingspan ranges from 32 to 38 mm for both sexes.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
It prefers meadows, pastures, grasslands and flowery damp areas that are not fertilized or used for fodder, up to 2200 m elevation.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Caterpillars mainly eat red clover and other Trifolium species, as well as Vicia cracca, Anthyllis, Genista and Melilotus.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The species has one brood per year and overwinters as a young larva.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults are on the wing from May through August.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It resembles Cupido minimus, but on the underside of the hindwing the black spot in space 6 and its two neighboring spots form an obtuse angle, unlike the acute angle in C. minus. It is also compared to the common blue and to Grecian Cyaniris bellis, which has orange markings that Mazarine blue lacks.
Source: Wikipedia
More photos
Questions people ask
What plants do the caterpillars eat?
They feed on red clover and other legumes such as various Trifolium species, Vicia cracca, Anthyllis, Genista and Melilotus.
Source: Wikipedia
How can I tell Mazarine blue apart from similar butterflies?
Look at the underside of the hindwing: the black spot in space 6 and its two neighbors make an obtuse angle in Mazarine blue, while they form an acute angle in Cupido minimus; also, Mazarine blue lacks the orange markings seen in Grecian Cyaniris bellis.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Lycaenidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyaniris_semiargus
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.