Plebejus

Plebejus
Plebeius argus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Plebejus Kluk, 1780
Synonyms
Alpherakya Zhdanko, 1994 Aricia Eumedonia Forster, 1938 Farsia Zhdanko, 1992, (non Amsel 1961: preoccupied) Gymnomorphia Verity, 1929 Lycoena Nicholl, 1901 Maurus Bálint, 1991 Plebeius Kluk, 1780 (lapsus) Plebejides Sauter, 1968 Plebulina Nabokov, 1945 Pseudoaricia Beuret, 1959 Rusticus Hübner, 1806 (suppressed) Umpria Zhdanko, 1994 Ultraaricia Beuret, 1959 and see text

Plebejus (also spelled Plebeius) is a genus of butterfly in the Lycaenidae family. Many genera formerly considered independent are at least tentatively included here nowadays, and some others—Agriades, Albulina, Icaricia, Aricia, and Lycaeides—may belong herein too.The members (species) of this genus are found in the Palearctic ecozone and the Nearctic ecozone.

Species include:

• ardis group:
  • Plebejus baroghila (Tytler, 1926)
  • Plebejus eversmanni (Lang, 1884)
  • Plebejus firuskuhi (Forster, 1940)
  • Plebejus kwaja (Evans, 1932)

• argus group:
  • Plebejus aegidon (Gerhard, 1853)
  • Plebejus argus (Linnaeus, 1758) – Silver-studded Blue
  • Plebejus corsicus (Bellier, 1862)
  • Plebejus hypochiona (Rambur, 1858)

• idas group:
  • Plebejus anna (Edwards, 1861) – Anna's Blue
  • Plebejus agnatus (Rühl, 1895)
  • Plebejus argyrognomon (Bergstrasser, [1779]) – Reverdin's Blue
  • Plebejus balder (Hemming, 1934)
  • Plebejus bellieri (Oberthür, 1910)
  • Plebejus calliopis (Boisduval, 1832)
  • Plebejus christophi (Staudinger, 1874) – Small Jewel Blue
  • Plebejus cleobis (Bremer, 1861)
  • Plebejus emigdionis (Grinnell, 1905) – San Emigdio Blue
  • Plebejus ganssuensis (Grum-Grshimailo, 1891)
  • Plebejus iburiensis (Butler, [1882])
  • Plebejus idas (Linnaeus, 1761) – Idas Blue or Northern Blue
  • Plebejus lepidus Zhdanko, 2000
  • Plebejus melissa (Edwards, 1873) – Melissa Blue or Orange-bordered Blue
  • Plebejus maracandicus (Erschoff, 1874)
  • Plebejus mongolicus Rühl, [1893]
  • Plebejus nevadensis (Oberthür, 1910)
  • Plebejus nushibi Zhdanko, 2000
  • Plebejus pseudaegon (Butler, [1882])
  • Plebejus roxane (Grum-Grshimailo, 1887)
  • Plebejus samudra (Moore, [1875])
  • Plebejus subsolanus (Eversmann, 1851)
  • Plebejus uiguricus Zhdanko, 2000

• lucifera group:
  • Plebejus lucifera (Staudinger, 1867)
  • Plebejus thermis (Grum-Grshimailo, 1891)

• pylaon group:
  • Plebejus allardi (Oberthür, 1874)
  • Plebejus beani Bálint & Johnson, 1997
  • Plebejus hesperica (Rambur, 1840)
  • Plebejus klausrosei (Bálint, 1992)
  • Plebejus martini (Allard, 1867) – Martin's Blue
  • Plebejus nichollae (Elwes, 1901)
  • Plebejus patriarcha Bálint, 1992
  • Plebejus philbyi Graves, 1925
  • Plebejus pylaon (Fischer de Waldheim, 1832) – Zephyr Blue
  • Plebejus sephirus (Frivaldszky, 1835)
  • Plebejus trappi Verity, 1927
  • Plebejus vogelii (Oberthür, 1920) – Vogel's Blue
  • Plebejus zephyrinus (Christoph, 1884)

• sarta group:
  • Plebejus devanica (Moore, [1875])
  • Plebejus sarta (Alphéraky, 1881)
  • Plebejus pilgram Bálint & Johnson, 1997
  • Plebejus sartoides (Swinhoe, 1910)

• eurypilus group:
  • Plebejus carmon (Gerhard, [1851]) – Eastern Brown Argus
  • Plebejus csomai (Bálint, 1992)
  • Plebejus iranicus (Forster, 1938)
  • Plebejus psylorita (Freyer, 1845) – Cretan Argus
  • Plebejus zamotajlovi (Shchurov & Lukhtanov, 2001)

• ungrouped:
  • Plebejus acmon (Westwood, [1851]) – Acmon Blue
  • Plebejus bergi Kusnezov, 1908
  • Plebejus callaghani (Carbonell & Naderi, 2007)
  • Plebejus dzhizaki Zhdanko, 2000
  • Plebejus eumedon Esper, 1780 – Geranium Argus
  • Plebejus hishikawai (Yoshino, 2003)
  • Plebejus neurona (Skinner, 1902) – Veined Blue
  • Plebejus nicias Meigen, 1830 – Silvery Argus
  • Plebejus noah (Herz, 1900)
  • Plebejus optilete Knoch, 1781 – Cranberry Blue
  • Plebejus qinghaiensis (Murayama)
  • Plebejus shuroabadicus Shchetkin, 1963

• moved to genus Agriades
  • Agriades cassiope (J. Emmel & T. Emmel, 1998) – Heather Blue
  • Agriades glandon (de Prunner, 1798) – Arctic Blue
  • Agriades podarce – Sierra Blue

• moved to genus Aricia
  • Aricia icarioides (Boisduval, 1852) – Boisduval's Blue
  • Aricia lupini (Boisduval, 1869) – Lupine Blue
  • Aricia saepiolus (Boisduval, 1852) – Greenish Blue
  • Aricia shasta (Edwards, 1862) – Shasta Blue

Further reading

Plebejus "Le genre Plebejus " provides distribution information in French.