European Common Blue and effects on indigenous Lycaenids

[GilesR]

The population of this introduced butterfly has exploded here in the Laurentians. At this time of year it is by far the commonest butterfly where i live. Does anyone have an observation on its effect on indigenous blues? Is it competing for a resource or is it just a bully?

[e.butterfly.help]

That is an excellent question @GilesR and we all should be paying close attention to how this species is expanding.

Actually, I just posted on our Science section a recent article documenting this expansion (using eButterfly data ) here’s the direct link:

Anthropogenic disturbance promotes the abundance of a newly introduced butterfly, the European common blue (Polyommatus icarus; Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), in Canada

Authors: Stephanie A. Rivest srive046@uottawa.ca and Heather M. Kharouba Abstract: The frequency of introductions of non-native species is increasing worldwide, but only a few introduced species undergo rapid population growth and range expansion, and even fewer become invasive, leading to negative impacts on native communities. Predicting which non-native species are likely to become widespread and abundant can be difficult when there is a lack of species’ information in the early stages of c…