An organization is developing an environmental project that aims to protect this species in the Serra de Montemuro.
Quercus wants to create a micro reserve for the maculinea alcon (scientific name) in our country. This environmental organization recently purchased a plot of 3,500 square feet to maintain a population of blue butterfly. It is a place situated in the Serra de Montemuro, in which was recently identified a population of the species, whose occurrence is very rare in Portugal, because there are few known sites with their presence in Europe and is considered a threatened species almost extinction.
This specimen unlike its other congeners has an interesting life cycle. "After laying between July and August on the flowers which its scientific designation is Gentiana pneumonanthe, the eggs hatch, giving rise to tiny caterpillars consuming the capsule that will flower for two or three weeks. After this time, they let themselves fall to the ground and wait to be adopted by ants of the genus Myrmica that will transport them to the nest, thinking that it is the larvae of lost ants, "claims the official page of this non-governmental organization.
”Once on the nest, the blue butterfly caterpillars will consume hundreds of larvae of ants, trading in a sugary substance. In July, the year after the adoption takes place the process of transformation into a chrysalis, and a week later breaks the butterfly, who quickly seeks a way out of the nest, because the chemistry that has eluded the ants crashes and goes quickly to be considered an enemy. As the summer is at its peak, the males of the butterfly populate the fields in search of females, more brownish and a little less hectic. These specific forest priorities for biodiversity conservation by the European Union are the only habitats where we can find this butterfly. This population of Sierra de Montemuro, which now will be protected, was discovered by TAGIS - Butterfly Conservation Centre of Portugal, an organization with which the Quercus has a protocol of cooperation and implementation of the grow of nature’s network " concluded.
http://www.quercus.pt/scid/webquercus/defaultArticleViewOne.asp?categoryID=567&articleID=3691
