CreatureData

Pygmy blue

Brephidium exilis (Boisduval, 1852)

Status not recordedbutterflies and moths

The pygmy blue (Brephidium exilis) is a species in the family Lycaenidae, order Lepidoptera.

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Quick facts about the pygmy blue

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Wingspan
1.42 cm – 1.98 cm
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
On the wing
All year
Generations a year
Several
Larval food plants
Amaranthaceae family
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

How big is the pygmy blue?

PYGMY BLUE · WINGSPAN 1.98 CMADULT HUMAN · HEIGHT 1.7 M
At 1.98 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the pygmy blue is about 1.2% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Where does the pygmy blue live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the pygmy blue as introduced in 2 countries.

  1. Bahrain
  2. Saudi Arabia

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the pygmy blue endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the pygmy blue classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classInsecta
  4. orderLepidoptera
  5. familyLycaenidae
  6. genusBrephidium
  7. SpeciesBrephidium exilis (Boisduval, 1852)

Synonyms Brephidium coolidgei, Brephidium fea, Lycaena exilis

Other names and names in other languages (9)
  • Western pygmy blueEnglish
  • Western pygmy-blueEnglish
  • Mariposa Azul pigmeaSpanish
  • כחלילון אמריקאיHebrew
  • コビトシジミJapanese
  • Enano di Banan'i RefPapiamento
  • 褐小灰蝶Chinese
  • Niña Pigmea OccidentalSpanish
  • Pigmeo azulSpanish

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the pygmy blue

Other species in the same genus Brephidium.

ComparePygmy blue vs Tinktinkie bluePygmy blue vs Brephidium barbouriPygmy blue vs Brephidium isophthalmaPygmy blue vs Brephidium pipinus

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the pygmy blue?

An adult pygmy blue has a wingspan of 1.42 cm – 1.98 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the pygmy blue an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the pygmy blue as introduced in 2 countries: Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

What kind of animal is the pygmy blue?

The pygmy blue (Brephidium exilis) belongs to the family Lycaenidae in the order Lepidoptera.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Pygmy blue (Brephidium exilis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/pygmy-blue

MLA

“Pygmy blue (Brephidium exilis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/pygmy-blue.

BibTeX
@misc{pygmy_blue_2026,
  title = {Pygmy blue (Brephidium exilis)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/pygmy-blue},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}