Fritillaries from Southern France.

[Philzoid]

Those of you who read my holiday to France series will remember that there were some difficulties in getting ID's for the photos of Melitaea Fritillary species that were very abundant out there. For my part I decided to list them all as 'Heath' Fritillary Melitaea 'athalia', but was aware that other closely related species may have been in with them. In my second post Guy and Roger debated on the possibility of a False Heath (diamina (vernetensis)) and also Meadow (parthenoides) was also suggested in two of the pictures.

Most of the butterflies submitted were of upper-sides only and Guy stated that this alone was not sufficient for a conclusive ID. Sadly I have very few underside pics to show and none with both upper and lower for the same butterfly. However I've trawled through and selected some more pictures and I live in hope that some may be useful. Many of those below have already been shown in the postings but by putting them up again alongside others it may allow for easier comparison.

As there are a lot of pictures I'm going to do them in two postings.

Thanks in advance for your consideration .

Butterfly A

B

C

D

E

F

G (suggested parthenoides female)

H

I

J

K (suggested diamina vernetensis)

L

M (suggested possible parthenoides)

N

O

Phil

[Roger Gibbons]

A quick look (it's late) suggests L and O are parthenoides.

Roger

[David M]

Image M looks good too.

[Roger Gibbons]

D'accord. I didn't comment on that one as Phil had already indicated M as parthenoides.

I think you got your eye in on these now, David.

Roger

[Philzoid]

A quick look (it's late) suggests L and O are parthenoides.

Roger

Image M looks good too.

D'accord. I didn't comment on that one as Phil had already indicated M as parthenoides.

I think you got your eye in on these now, David.

Roger

Thanks for that guys .

I meant but forgot to mention that the female in "L" is the same butterfly as in "M". The male in L is trying to court the female so presumably they are both suspect parthenoides. The markings of parthenoides (for want of a better way of putting it) seem more net or web-like rather than chequered, and also lighter in tone in the basal area than in the others with the possible exception of "D" .

the second batch of pics will go on tonight and will finish with another look at a couple of other 'suspect' species.

Thanks again .

[David M]

I meant but forgot to mention that the female in "L" is the same butterfly as in "M".

So it is. The small tear on the left hindwing gives it away.