7th August all seven now healthy pupae.My captive Large White caterpillars are certainly not going to become tiny butterflies. ....... They are monsters but maybe that is because they are parasitised. I should find out in the next few days.
Jack
7th August all seven now healthy pupae.My captive Large White caterpillars are certainly not going to become tiny butterflies. ....... They are monsters but maybe that is because they are parasitised. I should find out in the next few days.
Hi Allan, great example of showing us a smaller than normal Common Blue, well done.Allan.W. wrote:Amongst the pictures that I took on Sunday morning was this one,at first glance ,a male Chalkhill and a smallish Brown Argus ,but ,on closer inspection ,I see that it is actually a male Chalkhill and a very small Common Blue.
Regards Allan.W.
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As you say, in past years, im sure smaller than normal butterflies did occur in low numbers, an i think this year(because of our "heatwave") it has been highlighted with more numerous sightings of smaller than normal butterflies. I for one, have tried to seek out these smaller individuals this season, something that i havent done in the past.Allan.W. wrote:Thanks for the comments Paul ! That particular pic was a bit of a fluke (but I,ll take it !) ,since my original post I,ve now seen about eight species which have had some particularly small individuals ( including one male Adonis ) ,but it doe,s seem to be (for me anyway ) mainly Common Blues and Brown Args; a Common Blue that I saw at Dungeness was by far the smallest British Butterfly that I have ever seen ,much smaller than any Small Blue . Two seasons ago I found a Small Copper with a wingspan of no more than 15mm ,I took a pic but with nothing to give it scale ,it was just another Small Copper !
Superb Adonis undersides by the way Paul !
Regards Allan.W.
Testudo Man wrote:As you say, in past years, im sure smaller than normal butterflies did occur in low numbers, an i think this year(because of our "heatwave") it has been highlighted with more numerous sightings of smaller than normal butterflies. I for one, have tried to seek out these smaller individuals this season, something that i havent done in the past.Allan.W. wrote:Thanks for the comments Paul ! That particular pic was a bit of a fluke (but I,ll take it !) ,since my original post I,ve now seen about eight species which have had some particularly small individuals ( including one male Adonis ) ,but it doe,s seem to be (for me anyway ) mainly Common Blues and Brown Args; a Common Blue that I saw at Dungeness was by far the smallest British Butterfly that I have ever seen ,much smaller than any Small Blue . Two seasons ago I found a Small Copper with a wingspan of no more than 15mm ,I took a pic but with nothing to give it scale ,it was just another Small Copper !
Superb Adonis undersides by the way Paul !
Regards Allan.W.
Thanks for the comment in regards to my Adonis images Allan.
Speaking of smaller than normal sized butterflies, this last Saturday(25/8/18) i came across what appears to be a perfect fresh little female Chalk Hill Blue. It was early evening(after a 20 minute bout of rain) so all the butterflies were quite docile!
I dont have very large hands for a guy! so you can get a sense of the scale/size of her, with the butterfly perched on my finger tip!
A couple of images, both pics are not cropped. Cheers Paul.......EDIT, forgot to say, the location was at Queensdown Warren, Kent.
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Cheers for that Allan.Allan.W. wrote:Hello Paul ,
As you know ,Chalkhill and Adonis(females ) are difficult to tell apart ,but for me your image shows an Adonis Blue ,in my part of Kent ,Chalkhills are way past their best ,and the ones I,ve seen in the past week or so are very tatty (males and females ),but I,m still finding freshly emerged female Adonis , I must admit I,ve a few shots that I,m just not sure about ! a little while back on one of the forums ,an idea (theory ) wasput forward for counting the the White rings on the Antennae ,I tried it and it does seem to work ,I think it was something like around 17-20 in Adonis ,and 24-27 rings
in Chalkhill ,it is an excellent theory ,and it did work with pictures I tried it with (try first with males !) your pictures are very sharp ,so you should be able to count easily.
Regards Allan.W.
I hope that Spider under the flower/petals didnt get them Allan!Allan.W. wrote: ↑Thu Aug 08, 2024 3:43 pm The Grasses and flora in general at Dungeness is VERY dry! and we seem to have another situation with many very small butterflies on the wing .Not only at Dungeness either ,in my local forest a short while back I saw two very small Gatekeepers........easily smaller than Small Heaths ,anyway heres a pair of in-cop Common Blues from Dungeness this afternoon.
Allan.W.
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I remember seeing a documentary about some species of monkey where males fell into two distinct physiological types: small, fast and sneaky; and big and tough. Both led to reproductive advantage, for quite different reasons! I wonder if something similar might happen in butterflies. Feeding up fast and pupating early might lead to a small butterfly, but for a male it will perhaps mean he's the sole player for a while and can catch those females that have never seen a seriously butch butterfly. The alternative strategy of building up bulk to impress the females is more useful later on. For females, perhaps, it is most advantageous to emerge mid-season, when there is a maximum number of potential mates to choose from.David Lazarus wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2024 10:03 amI often come across a tiny one each year in Essex, always male if I remember rightly, without any real explanation it seems. The runt of the army?