Exactly right.. Thanks for that link. Back to you, Guy.
P.S. I've just looked at the figure of Janira. If you look at the large label, it says under the name janira: " mas jurtinae" the male of jurtina. Was that added later, I wonder?
Misha

Don't hesitate.

Misha

No sorry Denise. As far as I know the species I'm after has only ever been known by one English name. It was the ingenious latin speaking Swede who got things wrong.

Misha

Hi Gary. It's a couple of years since I looked at Heath grasshopper in the Forest. They are very local, but I found fair numbers near the car park at Vales Moor, both north and south of the road. They are generally to be found where there is plenty of Dwarf Gorse, on the flowers and foliage of which...

Dave, Linnaeus gave latin names to butterflies and many other things. He invented the system we use now, a generic name and a specific name. For one of our species he gave different latin names to the two sexes because he thought they were different species. It wasn't the gatekeeper, though it could...

The distinction between macro and micro leps is entirely arbitrary. It's just that certain families are traditionally regarded as micromoths. Most of the micros are indeed small, but some members of the Pyralidae and Tortricidae in particular are larger than many macros. On the continent the Psychid...

Afraid not, Dave. Read the question again carefully!

Misha

Thanks Guy.
Well, here's something not too taxing for the grey matter:
Of which common British butterfly did Linnaeus originally describe the two sexes as different species?

Misha

Hi Felix No, that was yet another fly in from France, the Large Cone-head (Ruspolia nitidula) in 2005 and again in 2006. This species only just started to colonise Normandy as recently as 1999. It has a very loud stridulation, produced only at night. I used a bat-detector to home in on it, as the hu...

Alpine Heath, Cranberry Blue and Water Ringlet ssp vergy?

Misha

Sure is.

Misha

Helice. Notice how the dark border to the forewing curves inwards where it reaches the trailing edge. I think that rules out hyale or alfacariensis.

Misha

Peacock?

Misha

So it was you Gary! I had hoped there might be a locally established colony. The Hastings colony was still extant last year, but numbers seem to be diminishing, which is hardly surprising after two cool summers. These are really very warmth demanding insects, which is why they haven't been part of o...

Neil, Roesel,s has reached as far north as the latitude of the north Norfolk coast. There are, however isolated populations at Spurn and the Fylde, which are unconnected with the current expansion, which originated from the original population around the Thames estuary. There is also a long known co...

It's the same in Poole, I'm afraid. Some really nice grassland habitat beside Holes Bay, newly colonised by Essex Skipper and with plenty of Marbled Whites, not to mention hosts of grasshoppers etc., is now shaved to within an inch of its life, and is completely lifeless. I never visit Poole now. Mi...

If Marbled Frits are breeding there it should be easy to find caterpillars, which sit around on the upper surface of Bramble leaves.

Thanks Gary. I am indeed interested to know of the colony of Roesel's b-c in Wootton Coppice Inc. You may be interested to know that in 2005, when many macropterous specimens invaded our area, Barton Common was one of the places where I located it, but unfortunately the mowing regime has prevented i...

Dave, Essex Skippers are now fairly well distributed in East Dorset in dryish grassland. There used to be, and still may be, a large colony on the Bere Regis by-pass. I shall be checking it out soon, weather permitting, for Roesel's Bush-cricket, which is spreading like the Essex Skipper. I have see...

Could it be the Crinan Ear (Amphipoea crinanensis)?

Misha