Link to research suggesting all British Adonis Blues are descended from one, or a handful of, female butterflies in the eighteenth century:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/8350388k263373t4/
Adonis Blue - a recent UK colonist?
- Padfield
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Re: Adonis Blue - a recent UK colonist?
Very interesting! I have a book at home in England called 'The British Butterflies - Their Origin and Establishment' (Dennis, 1977), which rewrote quite a lot of Ford's speculation in his 'Butterflies'. It's an excellent book and well worth getting but I suspect more recent biochemical methods will mean much of it, in turn, will have to be rewritten!
If the British adonis blues have such a limited genetic origin it might help explain why they are apparently so much more vulnerable and local than their cousins on the continent.
Guy
If the British adonis blues have such a limited genetic origin it might help explain why they are apparently so much more vulnerable and local than their cousins on the continent.
Guy
Guy's Butterflies: https://www.guypadfield.com
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
Re: Adonis Blue - a recent UK colonist?
Have they developed into a separate subspecies?