help
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help
have seen a butterfly not in any identification book. could not photograph.nearly all black large wings with deep scarlet markings. can anyone help?
- Pete Eeles
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- Mike Young
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- Trev Sawyer
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A friend of mine recently saw a dark coloured "butterfly" with scarlet patches fly past him before landing on the trunk of a tree. He said it was definitely bigger than a red admiral. After talking to him for a while, he said it folded its wings back over it's body at rest. My obvious suggestion was a Red Underwing Moth (Catocala nupta) which often flies during the day. On checking in a book, he confirmed that's what it was. There are similar moths with different shades of red (Scarlet, dark crimson etc.) but these tend to be a bit smaller...
So if you only saw the insect in flight, it could well have been one of those. They do look very dark in flight with conspicuous scarlet markings and are about 1.5 x bigger than a red admiral. They are also definitely on the wing at present.
Trev
So if you only saw the insect in flight, it could well have been one of those. They do look very dark in flight with conspicuous scarlet markings and are about 1.5 x bigger than a red admiral. They are also definitely on the wing at present.
Trev
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- Trev Sawyer
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- Padfield
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Your description still sounds very good for red admiral! So perhaps the question is, how does it differ from this? That might help pinpoint its true identity. There are several excellent pictures of red admiral on this site, including here:
http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/image.ph ... Jul-07.jpg
Guy
http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/image.ph ... Jul-07.jpg
Guy
- Charles Nicol
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doubt it was an escapee owing the frosts we have had (in my part of the country anyway). People often get small tortoisehell and red admiral mixed up. My bet is that it was a red admiral (females are slightly larger than males). At this time of the year it is the most likely option and matches the description of our only black and red coloured UK species.
Regards Lance
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- Padfield
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If it's not a red admiral then I can't think of any native butterfly or moth it might be. Very strange!! If you can think of any details you have omitted, Michael, whether to do with the colours, shape, size or behaviour, please do post them. But on the available information I, for one, reluctantly admit defeat.
I'm very happy, though, that there are still some mysteries left in life. Wouldn't it be depressing if there weren't?
Guy
I'm very happy, though, that there are still some mysteries left in life. Wouldn't it be depressing if there weren't?
Guy
- Dave McCormick
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OK, Eighty-Eight Butterfly? (Callicore Manimuna)? OK, I have no idea and usually I am good with this. Was wings long? what size was it? How did it fly, fast, slow?
Cheers all,
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My Website: My new website: http://daveslepidoptera.com/ - Last Update: 11/10/2011
My Nature videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/DynamixWarePro
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