Woodland Grayling???

[Mark Lyman]

Hi, am hoping someone out there can confirm (or otherwise) the ident of this butterfly please?

Late August we were down in the Dordogne and had a real treat - many butterflies I've never seen before including two swallowtails.

However, this one we found dead - small children are very good at finding interesting dead things!

Many thanks, Mark.

PS Is it likely we would have seen a number of Queen of Spain down there?

[Padfield]

It looks good for woodland grayling to me. The chalky band on the hindwing and the suffused ocellus on the forewing are typical. That said, I don't think there are any constant features that allow identification in every instance (separation from rock grayling, that is). As you have a specimen you can measure it: rock graylings have a forewing length of 33mm or less while in woodland grayling it is 33mm or more.

You would certainly expect to see Queens of Spain there.

Guy

[Mark Lyman]

Thanks Guy - I measured from body to wing tip in a straight line - 36mm.

Thanks again, Mark.

[Padfield]

Then it's woodland for sure. It's not at all easy to do that in the field...

Guy

[Mark Lyman]

...fab - can tick it off on my shiny new iPhone app then!

Cheers, Mark.