Fritillary Ab.

[Rogerdodge]

Guys
Firstly, apologies for the quality of the photos - they are actually photographs of small (5x7) prints.
gallery/image.php?album_id=2609&image_id=22423
gallery/image.php?album_id=2609&image_id=22422
They were taken last week by a very good friend of mine who has the extraordinary good fortune to live in the Heddon Valley on Exmoor - probably one of the best 5 butterfly sites in the country. It is just 13 miles north from my home, and this time of year I spend a considerable amount of time there, and have got to know many residents well.
The "jewel in the crown" is the High brown Fritillary, which is found here in similar numbers to the Dark green.
My immediate reaction on seeing the shot of the upperside was that it was a very pretty aberant DGF, as I had seen a very similar one last year, However, a look at the underside showed, not just the expected green suffusion, but also clear brown circles suggestive of HBF. A subsequent look at the fore wing outer margin is nearer flat or even perhaps, concave as per HBF, and not the clear convex in DGF. This may be due to the viewing angle, as the underside shot shows it nearer flat.
My gut feeling is DGF, similar to abb. cadmeis but more strongly marked, and with suggestion (the rings) of the unamed abb. in Harmer/Russwurm - Variation on British butterflies plate 52 figs 3 & 4.
The Cockayne database, unusually, wasn't particularly helpful this time
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/data/b ... taxon.dsml
I can't find any reference of hybridisation between the two species, but it would be interesting.
Any more opinions?

[Padfield]

My gut reaction was also aglaja - well, after my first gut reaction, which was, 'Wow!'

The underside fits ab. robnora perfectly as far as I can see:

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/data/b ... me=500051X

Guy

[Tony Moore]

Surely must be HBF from wing shape alone, but what an astonishing ab.

Tony M.