Plebejus argyrognomon

Hostplant: In Norway, the hostplant is Astragalus glycyphyllos. Further south in Europe it also lives on Coronilla varia. In my breeding i started out with C.varia but later changed over to A.glycophyllos without any problem.

Lifecycle and behaviour: In captivity, the eggs were laid mainly on the leaves. The eggs used 9-10 days to hatch. The young larva ate small patches in the leaf. As they grew larger, they started eating the whole plant. The larval stages lasted 3,5-4 weeks and the larva molted 3 times. Pupal stages lasted 8-10 days. In Norway the adult butterfly fly in one generation usually in July. Further south in Europe it has two generations. In my breeding, they hatched the same summer. The egg hibernates.

Note: This species is protected under Norwegian law! My breeding was done with Polish stock that i found while living and studying in Poland for 6 years. The species in Norway is confined to a few small islands in the inner Oslofjord. Official breeding efforts and planting of hostplant at the known localities and new suitable localities has been tried to save the species. Despite this, it has not been seen since 2013 and is believed to be extinct now. Since the Norwegian populations are separated from the rest of mainland Europe it is considered to be an own subspecies, ssp. norwegica.