Mystery 7

[Padfield]

There are seven species of butterfly in this picture. Can you identify them? Some are easy, some well-nigh impossible on this view, but might yield to an educated guess. Unfortunately, only one of these butterflies is a (primary) British species.

It may help to know the picture was taken at about 1300m in the central Pyrenees, last week.



There were about a dozen species in total on the whole patch of thyme but this was the best group I could fit into one picture.

Guy

[m_galathea]

Well, some are easy for you Guy!

Here's my quick guesses. Bear in mind I have very little experience of non British butterflies_

From left to right:

A blue. Not a clue which genus,
Mellicta sp.
Possibly a High Brown Fritillary,
Melanargia galathea or even M. lachesis,
A Copper. Possibly Heodes,
Coenonympha sp.
and lastly Nordmannia sp, but not N. esculi.

AH

[Padfield]

Good first shot AH!

A blue. Not a clue which genus, Here's a clue: no cell spot but otherwise straightforward Polyommatine
Mellicta sp. In the broad sense, yes. But more precisely it's Melitaea
Possibly a High Brown Fritillary, Different genus - note the broad, fan-shaped hindwing and the spotty appearance
Melanargia galathea or even M. lachesis, Correct! It's galathea
A Copper. Possibly Heodes, Right on both counts so far...
Coenonympha sp. Right so far...
and lastly Nordmannia sp, but not N. esculi. Again, right on both counts

That's narrowed the field!

Guy

[m_galathea]

Hmm, I feel I should be able to get that Fritillary, even though their uppersides are always confusing. Now you've mentioned the shape and spotted nature I'd say it looks like Brenthis daphne, but my book says it lives only up to 4000 feet. Maybe it lives higher up these days? I bet I'm still miles off so I'll give someone else a chance...

[Padfield]

B. daphne it is! Two down, five to go...

I agree, that's probably about limit in terms of altitude, though Tolman cites 1750m as the upper bound.

Guy

[Ian Pratt]

There is an ilex hairstreak, purple-shot copper, marbled white, knapweed fritillary plus a common blue? I manged the marbled fritillary.

[Ian Pratt]

Chapman's blue and pearly heath?

[Padfield]

Getting warmer!

Ian has sorted out most of them, but the blue is not Chapman's and the small fritillary is not knapweed. I of course have the advantage of having seen them in real life and knowing what flies in the region.

Chapman's is close, but I don't think I've ever seen the foodplant (sainfoin) there and I can't remember ever having seen the butterfly either.

The small fritillary is a species and form you get very used to if you visit the high Pyrenees and is actually very easy even in flight. But it looks quite different there from in most of Europe. The 'normal' form of it flies at slightly lower altitudes in the Val - the cut-off being about 1100m or so (I haven't really gone into this, but the form suddenly changes as you go up).

G

[Ian Pratt]

Weaver's fritillary and Escher's or Amanda's blue?

[Padfield]

Escher's it is!

Just one to go. The fritillary is Melitaea sp. - and you saw the same species in the Cévennes, Ian (but it probably looked different).

Guy

[Ian Pratt]

It only leaves Glanville, Spotted and False Heath.
I plump for Glanville.

[Padfield]

Bad luck. I'll give you (or someone else) one more guess!

Guy

[Ian Pratt]

Spotted fritillary but not as we know it Jim!!??

[Padfield]

You had to be there, really!

No, the common fritillary that takes one a bit by surprise in the Pyrenees is false heath (M. diamina), and that is what this is. It is form vernetensis - much more open and orange than most places in Europe and generally much more like heath fritillary. The underside is also more like that of heath frit, lacking the characteristic black blobs.

This is a typical false heath fritillary from the Alps:



This is one from the high Pyrenees:



And this is a still more 'open' one (usually, the black discal marks in s1 are fused into one):



To add to the confusion, meadow fritillary, M. parthenoides, flies in the same areas!



Thanks to you both for playing! I hope it was fun!

Guy

[Ian Pratt]

Thanks . It was great.