Small Tortoiseshell ab

[Stevie Blunder]

Hi folks,
Any ideas what this ab. is called. I photographed this back in July 2010 in Monmouthshire.

Thanks in advance.

[bugboy]

Ab conjuncta looks like a good fit. Stunning abbberation

[Stevie Blunder]

Thanks for that. Is there Anywhere on this forum where people can share photos of their abs? Butterflies I mean not muscles!

[bugboy]

Thanks for that. Is there Anywhere on this forum where people can share photos of their abs? Butterflies I mean not muscles!

On the main site each species description has a link to abs specific to that species with photos mostly gleaned from posts on the forum. Only admins can move them across but if Vince sees your picture (he's unlikely to miss it) and deems it good enough he'll move it over so it's saved for posterity
https://ukbutterflies.co.uk/aberrations ... es=urticae

[David M]

Top marks for finding that one, Stevie.....it's practically off the scale!!

Short of opening your own personal diary, you should feel free to post anything unusual in the 'sightings' section.

[Chris L]

I saw this at lunchtime. An Ab.conjuncta?

[millerd]

Wow, that's a weird one! Great find, Otep. The ab. conjuncta above has similar forewings, but dark hindwings - yours has orange hindwings. It may have a different name, but I couldn't even hazard a guess as to what it might be. A definite for that one.

Cheers,

Dave

[David M]

Don't think it's ab. conjuncta, Otep, because the hindwings are still orange-red with the blue marginal lunules intact.

It is without doubt a most unusual and impressive specimen.

[Pauline]

Great find Otep Almost as good as an albino badger!

[Chris L]

Thank you folks. I am still out there with my L plates on but I am quite adept now at identifying the 42 species I have met so far, in flight and at rest, and the months that they will be encountered. When I saw this fluttering about nearby I did say to myself 'What on earth is that?' I guessed at a Small Tortoiseshell ab. As I waded through some long grass I was pleading with it to land so that I could have a closer look at it.

I think an albino badger is probably a million times more interesting Pauline.

[bugboy]

Your one might well qualify as conjuncta since the description of that ab only describes the forwings and makes no mention of what the hind wings should or shouldn't look like. However this probably also shows how unscientific and subjective this naming of abs thing can be sometimes!

[Chris L]

Thanks Bugboy.

It sort of conveys it in the photo, but to the naked eye, those black lines at the top of the forewings are like a very crude couple of swipes of a black marker pen.