Large tortoiseshell

[Ian Pratt]

Seen in Woodhouse Copse Wootton Isle of Wight today by John Rowell and Ian Pratt.

[Ian Pratt]

Underside.

[Gruditch]

Wow, great find Ian, I can see this fuelling more debate between the, migrant / resident camps, where the LT is concerned.

Gruditch

[Padfield]

Fantastic!

A correspondent wrote to me recently with photos of large tortoiseshell taken last year, well inland in Suffolk, and I suggested he post on this site. But he hasn't yet. I see absolutely no reason why the species shouldn't make a resurgence. It has been doing superbly on the continent in recent years and used to be a true native British butterfly. I'm sure it will be again.

I saw my first of the year last Saturday and am heading off this morning to try and get some videos of them.

Guy

[Ian Pratt]

Photo from today at the same site.

[geniculata]

hi Ian great find and a butterfly im sure you'll remember for a while. Im of the opinion that they are all periodic migrants because of the broad distribution of sightings across the south especially the south coast. I found one myself in july 2007 just across the water from you in new milton (find pictures attached). IT was in a garden not far from my home and is a butterfly ill remember for some time to come.
gary.

large tort 7.jpg (238.33 KiB) Viewed 2654 times

[thepostieles]

wonder why the caterpillers dont feed on nettles like small tort? or arent they close relative?

[Pete Eeles]

Not as close as the vernacular name suggests. As far as British species are concerned, their closest cousin is actually the Camberwell Beauty (both are from the genus "Nymphalis") - and both will feed on sallows. Interesting that both the Comma and Large Tort feed on Elm!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

You can get an idea of the (believed) proximity of relationship of various genera by looking at the taxon tree in Fauna Europaea. The arrangement of the tribe Nymphalinae is here:

http://www.faunaeur.org/full_results.php?id=84547

You notice that Aglais (small tortoiseshell) is somewhat distant from Nymphalis (Camberwell beauty and large tortoiseshell) and Polygonia (comma), which are adjacent, being closely related. The 'false comma', Nymphalis vau-album, known in America as the Compton Tortoiseshell, I think, looks something like a hybrid between comma and large tortoiseshell!

Guy

[thepostieles]

oh thx shame though if fed on nettles maybe l/tort be common

[Piers]

Not as close as the vernacular name suggests. As far as British species are concerned, their closest cousin is actually the Camberwell Beauty (both are from the genus "Nymphalis") - and both will feed on sallows. Interesting that both the Comma and Large Tort feed on Elm!

Although both will readily accept Sallow in captivity...

Felix.

[Ian Pratt]

Seen again today and better photo to come later. Watch this space!!

[Ian Pratt]

Seen today at the same site.

[thepostieles]

great photos ian, hope they come up bit further north one day that be good

[geniculata]

hi Ian,
have you noticed that this butterfly is a different individual to the one you first posted?

[Mikhail]

Looks like a female too.

Misha

[Padfield]

That's strange - because I had worked out it was the same individual. How do you figure it is different? The only thing I can see is an apparent white streak on the left forewing, which is due to the angle of the light.

Guy

[Padfield]

I've re-examined and I still make it the same individual. All points seem to match perfectly.

Guy

[geniculata]

hi guy,
its not in the markings, its the wing conditions. the first individual posted has a large notch missing in the bottom edge of the right hind wing plus frayed forewing tip edges. the second individual is in far better trim gary.

[Padfield]

You're right - and it's very interesting. I'd been matching up the shape of the forewing spots, because lighting can change the general appearance of freshness so much, but I didn't see the gash in the hindwing. That's pretty conclusive! No two pictures of mine show individuals with such similarly-shaped spots, and all my pictures are totally different from those individuals. That suggests to me that they are closely related. It's late here, but I'm very interested to study this more tomorrow!

Guy