Wingspan: 19–24 mm
Flight period of butterflies: in two generations from April to June and from July to September
Larval food plants: common restharrow (Anthyllis vulneraria)
Small copper (Cupido minimus) is one of the smallest Slovenian day-flying butterflies. Almost the entire underside of its wings is light grey, only around the body is a metallic blue sheen, the forewings and hindwings are adorned with small white-edged black dots. For the small copper, a small black dot in the lower outer corner of the underside of the hindwings and the absence of a tiny tail protruding from the wing edge on some other species of the genus Cupido, and the absence of red spots on the underside of the wings are characteristic. The upperside is uniformly dark brown, only the fringe along the wing margins is pure white; a male can be identified by a faint blue sheen at the base of the upperside of the wings.
Small copper is a characteristic meadow species. It is most common on dry, ungrazed meadows, where the larval food plant, common restharrow, is most common. We will also encounter this tiny blue butterfly on meadows on somewhat moister soils, along the forest edge and on slopes that have not yet become fully overgrown with shrubs. It is most common from the lowlands up to around 900 m above sea level, and it can also occur higher, even above the tree line.
In Slovenia it is most common in Primorska, Notranjska and Carinthia, as well as in the Posavje Hills, while in Pomurje it is extremely rare, which can be attributed to the loss of suitable habitats of the common restharrow due to the intensification of agriculture in this part of the country.
