David M wrote: Your triaria is special too. I've looked at all my images and mine have only 5 upf ocelli in the orange band. Yours has six! Very nice specimen. I looked through my records of triaria and could only find one with six ocelli, so they are infrequent. Erebia triaria_25709.JPG I, too, wou...

Guy wrote: If a female is mated more than once, sperm will be in competition for her eggs. A male that blocks off access to other males gives his own sperm sole access to her. Males that cannot do this will on average have less access to eggs, if other males are doing it. Thus, the shphragis is sele...

A question that has puzzled me for some time: given that everything in nature has a survival value, where does a sphragis fit into that narrative?

Maybe someone knows...

Roger

As Nigel mentioned the Apollo sphragis (the device at the end of the female's abdomen), here is a photo of one, not that I had noticed until several years later: Parnassius apollo_33242W.JPG And by comparison, a Clouded Apollo with a very different sphragis: Parnassius mnemosyne_21270W.JPG And, just...

Correction: I do have a couple of open wing shots, this one is a very blue male.

I agree with Pete and Nigel’s comments on that Chequered Blue ( S. orion ), an absolute stunner. It is a very blue female, as well. The conventional wisdom re the sexes is that the females have very limited blue, but this has not been my experience as I have seen females that are quite blue and male...

An interesting article:
https://physicsworld.com/a/nanoscale-st ... ack-wings/

Roger

It is a very widespread species as Medard says. These are my records of sightings (town, département, region, date - the formatting got lost en route), but curiously it does not occur in PACA, a region that has almost every other species. Roger La Roche-Chalais Dordogne Aquitaine 16-Aug-08 Beaune Cô...

For first brood Map, I think you have to be there (northern/central France) around the second half of April, and this is not normally a time for butterfly trips, so it probably needs a special visit. Like most UKBers who have posted on this thread, I see mostly second brood Map, but I am lucky in th...

I can echo Pete's sentiment about graeca . I find it highly elusive, mainly I think because it does not seem to emerge before mid-July and I am generally in the Mercantour too early. The last decent photographic opportunity I had was in 2006 and that was in very windy conditions. I get to see it mos...

....and the other simply for it being probably a once in a lifetime event; mating Alpine Blues (thanks to my co-guide, Jon Dunn, who rang my mobile 2,000m up Col des Champs to tip me off): Male Alpine Blues are rather infrequent, females much less so, and mating pairs probably a once-in-a-lifetime ...

I have just received my copy this morning and I would say that it is the most comprehensive work of its type ever produced. The level of analysis of ecology, habitat and species detail is exceptional. The previous OPIE Atlas looks very skimpy alongside it. If anyone is thinking of buying it, I don't...

It's not actually 2019 (was 2018) but I have just added a short video to my athalia page, linked from YouTube (best at 1080):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj-pmbNNrro

It's readily apparent why I haven't received a BAFTA nomination.

Roger

Hi David, If you're thinking in terms of the straight margin and rather pointed apex, I would just mention that the alfacariensis wing shape is very variable. I have seen a few in Var that had the same reason to indicate hyale , but hyale almost certainly does not fly in Var. I don't know where you ...

This might be of use:
http://dordognebutterflybirdwatching.co.uk/

Roger

By way of contrast, here is one I saw in Lozère. Hard to believe it is the same species.
Roger

There is a quick guide to blues and fritillaries undersides and Erebia uppersides - links on my home page.

I have a few updates from 2019 to add, and I plan to add fritillary uppersides in due course.

Roger

Following Chris' lead, chancing upon alcon was one of the highlights of my July. Here is a Marsh Gentian ( Gentiana pneumonanthe ) peppered with alcon eggs. Unusual in that the Gentian is not in flower even on 25 July. Phengaris alcon_46931W.JPG And here is the female that was laying the eggs, takin...

Rupert, Here is the link to the online Pyrgus guide: http://files.biolovision.net/www.faunegeneve.ch/pdffiles/news/PyrgusKey2017v11-7022.pdf It's not possible to ID your latest Pyrgus with any confidence, but I would say that alveus is a strong candidate, on the basis I can see more reasons to precl...

Following up on David's post, I also see quite a few Large Blues, usually at altitude, and I rarely get to see the upperside. So I was delighted to see this one in the Pyrenees at around 1600m which was quite sedentary (maybe just emerged - it looked perfectly fresh) but opened its wings in a cloudy...