Southern Brown Argus; Morena

Small butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It has a row of orange spots on outer wing edges. Very similar to Northern Brown Argus which usually has no orange spots on forewing. Female Common Blues are similar but have blue dusting close to the body. The underside has the typical "blue" pattern of a greyish/brownish ground colour with black spots outlined in white and a row of orange spots along the border. The pattern of the black spots is the best way to distinguish this species from female Common, Chalk Hill and Adonis Blues as they lack the black spot found near the base of the forewing which is present on these three species. The larvae are associated to ants and feed on Leguminosae, mainly on genus Erodium, Helianthemum and Geranium