Scolitantides orion, the chequered blue, is a species of butterfly in the family Lycaenidae (gossamer-winged butterflies). It is found in Europe, Russia and east across the Palearctic to Japan.

Subspecies

The male is 13 to 16 mm. In France there is usually a single generation flying in May and June, sometimes there are two generations May then September. The butterfly lives in rocky areas up to 1000 m of altitude, on plants such as Sedum telephium and Sedum album.

Description in Seitz

Above and beneath rather similar to Pseudophilotes baton but larger and darker, recognizable by the fringes being very distinctly spotted and the white underside abundantly and heavily spotted with black, the hindwing beneath bearing a bright orange-red submarginal band. Throughout Europe, western and northern Asia, excepting England, the Arctic countries and Japan; from Finland to the Mediterranean islands and from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

By nation

In Norway, there are about 50 of these butterflies in the wild; As of 2022 they have for the last years only been found in the wild in the Halden area.

Etymology

Named in the Classical tradition. Orion is a legendary Boeotian hunter who, after his death, was turned into a constellation by Zeus.