The "L’Azuré du bec-de-grue" or Moroccan Azure (Maurus vogelii) is a species of Lepidoptera (butterflies) endemic to Morocco. It is the sole representative of the monotypic genus Maurus within the family Lycaenidae and the subfamily Polyommatinae.
The species known today as Maurus vogelii was first described in 1920 by the French entomologist Charles Oberthür, under the initial name Lycaena vogelii.
Subsequently, several 20th-century authors placed the species in the genus Plebejus and/or in the genus or subgenus Plebejides. In 1991, noticing that the species vogelii did not seem to belong to these groups, Zsolt Bálint described the genus Maurus for it, with M. vogelii as the type species and the only species. Later, some authors decided to synonymize Maurus with Plebejus or make it a subgenus of the latter. However, in the early 2010s, studies on the molecular phylogeny of Polyommatini confirmed the validity of the monotypic genus Maurus, which is not closely related to Plebejus sensu stricto.
Maurus vogelii is bivoltine: it flies in April-June and then again in late August-September.
Present in two isolated areas corresponding to the two subspecies.
Highly localized, it inhabits dry rocky slopes with sparse vegetation at high altitudes (between 1,900 and 2,500 meters).
Threatened by habitat desertification caused by overgrazing, the species sees its small range shrinking and is currently on the verge of extinction.
