Southern White Admiral with a difference

[David Tipping]

Here's a butterfly from a recent Naturetrek holiday in the Spanish Pyrenees which might be of interest. It had us all perplexed for a while, but we eventually concluded that it was an aberrant Southern White Admiral, which lacked the white wing markings.

[Tony Moore]

Wonderful find!

Tony.

[Padfield]

Amazing! I think this is f. pythonissa, Millière, 1859: 'On dorsal side white lines almost disappear, whereas ventral side suffused with russety tone contrasting with a decidedly white basal area on hindwing' (Leraut). Leraut illustrates a female of this form very simliar to yours but just slightly less extreme, with fragments of white still visible. For myself, I've never seen anything like it!

Guy