Turkish butterfly ID help please?

[legless2007]

I've managed to get my parents stalking butterflies, can anyone help with this ID? It doesn't match anything in "A Field Guide to The Butterflies of Turkey" by Ahmet Baytaş as far as I can see.

Thanks in advance

Jo

[legless2007]

closest I can get is Meadow Brown, but does that have the double eye spot?

[millerd]

Could be one of several Meadow Browns in Turkey, including the most familiar one! However, it does look quite like the photo in A Photographic Guide to Butterflies of Britain & Europe of the Turkish Meadow Brown (Maniola megala).

Dave

[Padfield]

Agreed.

It would be helpful to have some more information on the location and date, and perhaps the habitat. Maniola megala has a rather restricted distribution, limited to the south coast of Turkey. M. telmessia is more widely distributed but also only in the south. M. jurtina is found throughout Turkey (this from Bozano, Guide to the Butterflies of the Palearctic Region). Most identification features are on the upperside or on the inside (!) but the rather weak scalloping on the hindwing suggests it is not megala. There are a few species in the related genus Hyponephele in Turkey, but I don't think this is one of them - it looks like Maniola.

If in doubt, you have to plump for the commonest species - which I think is jurtina, even in Turkey, though I'm not sure. But any more pictures or information would be useful.

Guy

[legless2007]

Its in Kayakoy, which is South West Turkey, just inland from the Med Coast (Fethiye area). It was taken on Tuesday. This is a shot of the sort of habitat, its very rocky, I don't know what the geology is. Sadly that's the only shot of the actual butterfly he got.

thanks so much both of you,

Jo