Butterfly Name

"Mini" Brown Argus

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"Mini" Argus to the left, full-size individual to the right. When photographed in isolation it is very difficult to assess the true size of any butterfly - but compare the size of each Argus here to the size of the seed-heads next to them, which are both the same sort (field scabious) and thus actually the same size. It is clear that, despite looking larger in this image, the individual on the left must really be much smaller than that on the right. It's only when a true-scale montage is made of the normal size and mini-Argus together that an accurate comparison can be made

Here, the image of the mini-Argus has been scaled so that the seed-heads (and in particular the individual seeds) are the same size, which reveals that the mini-Argus is only about two-thirds as large as the full-size individual

We reported the observation to Suffolk Butterflies, who said they had received a number of other reports of "mini" species in 2018. They suggested that foodplants had became very dry with restricted growth during the very hot summer, so the caterpillars did not grow as large as usual. They were still able to pupate, but produced small adults. This sounded quite plausible, as everything in our meadow hardly grew for several weeks: great for avoiding having to mow the paths but not good for wildlife! A later check on the British Butterfly Aberrations website (yes, there really is one!) indicated that this variation has been called "liliputana" - very appropriate!

We then saw another mini-Argus in the exceptionally hot & dry summer of 2022, together with several small Gatekeepers, so the restricted growth theory could well be correct.

Return to Brown Argus page


"Mini" Argus to the left, full-size individual to the right. When photographed in isolation it is very difficult to assess the true size of any butterfly - but compare the size of each Argus here to the size of the seed-heads next to them, which are both the same sort (field scabious) and thus actually the same size. It is clear that, despite looking larger in this image, the individual on the left must really be much smaller than that on the right. It's only when a true-scale montage is made of the normal size and mini-Argus together that an accurate comparison can be made		Here, the image of the mini-Argus has been scaled so that the seed-heads (and in particular the individual seeds) are the same size, which reveals that the mini-Argus is only about two-thirds as large as the full-size individual
We reported the observation to Suffolk Butterflies, who said they had received a number of other reports of "mini" species in 2018. They suggested that foodplants had became very dry with restricted growth during the very hot summer, so the caterpillars did not grow as large as usual. They were still able to pupate, but produced small adults. This sounded quite plausible, as everything in our meadow hardly grew for several weeks: great for avoiding having to mow the paths but not good for wildlife! A later check on the British Butterfly Aberrations website (yes, there really is one!) indicated that this variation has been called "liliputana" - very appropriate! We then saw another mini-Argus in the exceptionally hot & dry summer of 2022, together with several small Gatekeepers, so the restricted growth theory could well be correct.