...this is a wonderful and pretty blue butterfly, which i see often on my walks. Very flightly, a brilliant flash of blue when it flies, and then lovely brownish wings when settled. So why is it driving me bonkers? I took these pictures near Fanling.
Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies, with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterfly species, and in Hong Kong there are loads of very similar looking butterflies, all small, all blue wings, and brown, but with tiny, tiny differences. So i checked in my butterfly books and the web (wikipedia said these do not actually exist in HK, so that's BS for a start) and opted for EITHER Everes lacturnus, the Indian cupid
or
Euchrysops cnejus, the gram blue. (tho of course it could be the Plains Cupid - (Chilades pandava) - as well, or at least 5 other types).
I then posted it in a very good Entomology group, and asked for an ID. I got 50 something likes and one comment "No one is crazy enough to risk giving an ID on a Lycaenid like this". Ha! So I give up. And it is now called the Pretty Blue Butterfly (Chillades andhaveabeeres anddontworrytoomuchus)
Here are some more images to help with ID and for viewing pleasure (click for larger version)
ok, on the advice of my lovely wife, i dedicate this post to her, as this is her fave little butterfly and she just stops dead to watch them on our walks...so sally this is for you, and named the Cupid Heart Blue Butterfly (ilovesallymus verymuchus).