Wisley - Butterflies in the Glasshouse 2014

[Padfield]

Lovely pictures, Phil.

Heliconius is especially difficult if you don't know where a butterfly comes from. There is often far more variation within a species across its range than there is between species in the same region. I recently acquired the Swift Guide to the Butterflies of Mexico and Central America, which is very helpful for some species and groups (it helped me to sort out Parides) but for subspecies of Heliconians outside its range it's not really any use at all.

I won't be visiting the Papiliorama again until the weather turns nasty, but when I do I will be bearing in mind some of your observations from Wisley.

Guy

[MikeOxon]

Not sure my pictures are getting better but thanks for your kind comments Mike

Wow! I think the Heliconids are a splendid series of photos

It's a very nice shot of the Robin as well.

Mike

[Philzoid]

Thanks Guy and Mike

I won't be visiting the Papiliorama again until the weather turns nasty, but when I do I will be bearing in mind some of your observations from Wisley.

Basically I built up a collection of photos of heliconians (particularly prevalent this year), which I was keen to show and do a report for. The ID information I have given is basically correct I think, to species level, but as you say the amount of variation and mimicry that occurs in this group and the lack of information as to their origin makes it difficult to pinpoint to sub-species accuracy. Still, it was interesting and enjoyable for me to do that little bit of research and I hope some of it proves useful to you and others in future visits.

You're right about the photos Mike I shouldn't keep going on about it as on the whole they're OK particularly in respect to their composition and tonal depth (if that’s the right way of putting it). And so with that in mind here's a 'few' more pictures to close out the thread .

Indian Leafwing: the only one seen this year with slight wing damage

One of my favourite species and a few more than usual seen this year

The clipper, another cracker. Brown type seen too

May need to look more closely at this species to see if it is leuconoe

The Common Lime Butterfly has a huge range and is a pest species of citrus

P. demoleus underside noticeably differs from P. demodocus the latter having a dark underside

Mating pair of Scarlet Mormon

Batesian mimic of distasteful Common Rose Swallowtail

Male of non-mimetic tailess Common Mormon

Possibly ssp. agenor but a difficult group to ID

Female Great Eggfly

A butterfly house favourite.

Female Common Morpho

Another butterfly house favourite

One of my favourites, Tiger-striped Longwing

This species needs sunlight to get going

The female (Mocker) mimics the distasteful danaus species

New at Wisley this year

Thought I wasn't going to see the Tailed Jay this year

Forset Giant Owl, similar to its more numerous cousin the Pale Owl Butterfly C. memnon

That's it for another year Time to start my garden moth trapping

Phil

[MikeOxon]

A splendid 'close out' selection, Phil. You have put in a great deal of work to identify so many species - congratulations.

I think many of us are rather disappointed, on first looking at our own photos, since they are usually such pale imitations of the reality we have recently experienced. With time, and when we see them in comparison with other photos, it becomes easier to appreciate their good points. I'm sure that you will enjoy the collection that you have made this year, along with the rest of us. Thanks for sharing these

Mike