Speckled Wood with a blue body!

[Lisanova]

Hey i am new here so wasnt too sure where to post this but has anyone ever seen a speckled wood with a blueish body like this one? Its not a trick of the light with the camera it really was a beautifully coloured butterfly! Is this a usual colour for them?

[Charles Nicol]

it is unusual !

here is a more typical specimen:

https://www.environment.gov.scot/media/ ... terfly.jpg

[NickMorgan]

Welcome Lisa,
I think your question has everyone stumped!
This is certainly not something I have seen before. I wonder if the butterfly has been marked as part of a research project. Unusual, as you would normally expect any marks to be put on the wings.

[Padfield]

I'm a little surprised at the answers so far. The normal colour of the thoracic hairs on speckled woods is a kind of turquoise/jade, and any view where the light catches these hairs will show a greenish blue hue. The actual body colour is brown/black. The more oblique the view, the more the green/blue is likely to show.

This one, taken recently in Suffolk, shows the effect a little:



I imagine your individual had particularly blue-green hairs. Or maybe I'm wrong and in your case the actual body was bluish - which would indeed be anomalous.

Guy

[ernie f]

I have seen this effect in many species to varying degrees.

You may have to click on the image to see the blueness. Sometimes its only a speck or two.

Brown Hairstreak

Comma

Dark Green Fritillary

Duke of Burgundy

Large Skipper

Small Copper

Silver Spotted Skipper

In all cases the angle the photo was taken and the glancing direction of the sunlight is key.

I am not sure a single solution fits all occurrences. Some of the pics above show the hairs of the body showing the colour while in others the hairs have rubbed-away showing the shiny body underneath and this is what is reflecting blue. With the hairs, the mechanism might be something like the effect from the feathers of some birds such as the peacock while with the hairless body it could be like the effect of light reflection from oil on water or some "black" beetles.

[David M]

I agree that the hairs on a butterfly's body can play tricks with refracted light depending on the angle at which the butterfly is observed.

Whilst I haven't noticed this seemingly blue hue in Speckled Woods before, it doesn't surprise me that such colour is visible when the image is taken in strong light.

Had it been taken in shade then I would have been far more perplexed.

[Wurzel]

I've seen a Specklie like that before several times and like the one in the image they're a bit worn and tired looking. The most blue one I saw was from a few years back from Bolderwood in the New Forest and i think it was from the end of October.

Have a goodun

Wurzel