Montes Universales Magic

[petesmith]

While David puts the finishing touches to his comprehensive Greenwings Montes Universales tour report, I though I would just share a small number of images from my recent trip to the same area. I went out there a week later than the tour, and was fortunate to be able to meet up with David, who very kindly showed me around a couple of the top sites, and shared many useful tips before he headed back to the UK. This was hugely beneficial, and enabled me to get the most out of my week.

During the planning stages for this foray, I had a target list of about 10 potential life-ticks, but given that I was going to be there a little later in the season, some of my targets would be close to the end of their flight periods.
I would have been happy to come away with between 6 and 8 lifers.

I was joined by good friend and fellow enthusiast Peter Cawdell for part of the week, and we spent several days enthralled by the sheer number of butterflies, many of which were considerable rarities. Some of the species we enjoyed are found not just nowhere else in Spain or Europe, but nowhere else in the world!

I came home with 12, or possibly 13 newbies, way exceeding my expectations.

On my first afternoon my first big life-tick was the Cinquefoil Skipper, and below top is my first sighting of this species - I didn't know where to point my camera!

P.cirsii

Two more newbies at the same site were the Spanish Chalkhill Blue and Oberthur's Anomalous Blue:

L.albicans

P.fabressei

The following morning brought another set of life firsts.
The gorgeous Azure Chalkhill Blue:

L.caelestissima

The Oriental Meadow Brown, a species that has eluded me for many years...

H.lupina

And similarly the Southern Gatekeeper:

P.cecilia

Here is one that wasn't even on my radar. The gorgeously different Iberian Sooty Copper:

L.bleusei

This is the big one folks. Zapater's Ringlet. A delightful, gorgeous Erebia unlike any other...

E.zapateri

The two species below were also major unexpected bonuses, the Spanish Argus (just look at those forewing underside spots!) and the Southern Mountain Argus:

A.morronensis

A.montensis

The next two took a few days to track down and photograph, but both were hugely exciting to finally find. Southern Hermit, another heavyweight rarity, and Mother-of-Pearl Blue, which was coming to the end of its flight period:

C.prieuri

P.nivescens

That was a dozen lifers for me - the best haul of new life ticks I have had from a European trip for many years.
There may have been a thirteenth also, although this might be wishful thinking. I am hoping that the butterfly below is a Southern Marbled Skipper, although I can't be 100% confident that it isn't a Marbled. I have no underside shot, but I am hoping that Guy, Roger, David or anyone else with experience of these two species might be able to confirm or deny it.

?C.baeticus

Regardless, this was a fantastic trip, with incredible numbers and range of species, including many rarities. I look forward to reading David's final report, which will be far more in depth than this brief ramble.
Huge thanks to David, and also to Peter for company in the field.

And finally, if anyone is contemplating going on the Greenwings tour out here next year, my advice would be not to hesitate. You will have an amazing time in a stunning location, with incredible butterflies!

[Roger Gibbons]

Hi Pete,

Sounds like a great trip. 12 (13) life ticks is a terrific return for a week's trip. They get harder!

I'll express an opinion on your putative baeticus: with that degree of wear, it is almost impossible to say for sure as baeticus and lavatherae would/could look very similar. But I would lean quite strongly toward baeticus because lavatherae has, in my experience, a rather horizontal rectangular "window" in the post-discal area of s2 - easier to see on the image below:

This seems to be constant for lavatherae, whereas the baeticus "window" is narrow and vertical, and the window on yours doesn't look like lavatherae. That's all I have to go on, but it could well be conclusive.

It will be interesting to see if anyone else has any other clues to suggest.

Roger

[David M]

Nice to read about someone else's exploits, Pete! I'm so glad you had a productive trip, although it's hard to see how anyone can go wrong in this glorious region. So long as you find the green spots, you're literally tripping over butterflies, some of them rarities/endemics!

I think your skipper at the end is baeticus. Whilst lavatherae DOES fly in the region, I always find it to be quite monochrome, whereas baeticus seems to have a bit of a salmon hue to it.

Furthermore, the hindwing marginal and sub-marginal markings in lavatherae always seem quite prominent, white, and broadly triangular in shape, whereas in baeticus there seems to be little going on by comparison. Your individual certainly fits the latter category - hardly any white down there.

[petesmith]

Many thanks Roger and David for your detailed input. Much appreciated.

[Padfield]

Quite amazing butterflies - and lots of your lifers would be lifers for me too.

Re the Carcharodus: I would certainly not have considered lavatherae for this individual - the toss up would have been between alceae and baeticus. I've seen many confirmed alceae in northern Spain, and even in Switzerland, looking exactly like this one. Strong white marks on the upperside hindwing are common in alceae, as are submarginal 'loops' on the hindwing. What is your reason for excluding this species?

Guy

EDIT - this is a confirmed alceae from Aragón that I was trying (in the field) to string into baeticus. It's not identical to yours but has much in common:

[petesmith]

Thanks Guy. Interesting. In reply to your question as to why I had excluded alceae: firstly, I had seen two alceae at the same site, and my putative baeticus just appeared very different in flight when I spotted it, much lighter ("whiter") in colour when on the wing, although this may in part have been due to the degree of wear. Secondly, the two alceae here had much darker hind wing markings. Thirdly, I must confess that even though you state that strong white marks on the upperside hindwing are common in alceae, personally I haven't seen any examples in France or Greece that have them to the extent seen on this individual.

The biggest frustration is that I was unable to capture an image of the underside. I DID get a couple of brief and tantalising views of the underside, which were highly suggestive of baeticus, clearly visible white venation and banding, but as these views were from underneath the butterfly, and were backlit by the sun, it is hard, given the worn state, to be sure that the patterns were actually the underside markings, and not markings showing through from the upperside, if that makes sense!

The balance of opinion and limited evidence seems to suggest baeticus as the most likely diagnosis. I wonder if, given the degree of wear, Roger's comments regarding the window may hold sway?

In hindsight, I am also now pretty certain that it wasn't white enough in flight to have been lavatherae.

[David M]

Just for comparison, here's one of my baeticus from Montes:

[Roger Gibbons]

I suggested the "window" clue only in respect of baeticus and lavatherae, mainly because Pete suggested that these were the two options based on his observations in the field. I think this clue only holds true for lavatherae as compared to both baeticus and alceae.

The discussion about the alceae white spots has been held on more than one occasion (with Guy, also Tim and Matt). My view, almost exclusively limited to southern France where alceae is common, is that alceae rarely has white spots in this discal region, and when they do, they are smaller and paler than any baeticus, even though the marks of baeticus are quite variable. I am happy to accept that alceae in other regions may be different and Tim has shown me examples where alceae has white spots, but even these do not resemble the strong sequence of baeticus. Even with worn baeticus, the contrast is unmistakeable. There are several examples of worn baeticus on my species page.

The submarginal sinuous loops of baeticus tend to disappear on wear but are usually apparent, even though it may take a close look. Alceae has similar marks but they are not continuous loops.

Noted in passing that early generations of baeticus are grey and subsequent generations become more brown. If anyone is planning to revisit the location in the spring, seeing such butterflies that look clearly grey would be definitive.

Roger

[Padfield]

I also am quite certain it wasn't lavatherae. As I say, that species literally wouldn't have occurred to me, for the reason Roger gives and many more. Equally, I cannot rule out alceae. I'm quite happy to go with others' judgment on that, but must insist that alceae does frequently show both the strong pale/white markings on the upperside hindwing (maybe not as white and solid as those in your and especially David's pictures) and those characteristic loops around the trailing edge. At least, either that or baeticus often has anomalous uns and I've been wrong all these years (which is quite possible)!

For the record, here are the uns of the individual I posted above: