he/she silver-washed frit

[John W]

Hi, just to say that on the Butterflies UK Facebook group someone (Fred O'Hare) has just posted a photo of a bilateral gynandromorph Silver-washed Fritillary taken at High Elms on Sunday,

The link will probably only work if you're a member of Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =1&theater

So I've taken the liberty of taking a screenshot:

It's a very impressive sighting!

If you are on Facebook, the Butterflies UK group is worth joining, plenty of nice pics posted there. Though you don't tend to get the detailed and amusing field reports that you get on this site.

Cheers
John

[David M]

Impressive indeed!

Male on the left and female to the right.

Stunning specimen.

[Wurzel]

That is brill Is it just me or does the males side still look more orange and brighter than the female side too?

Have a goodun

Wuzrel

[nomad]

Spectacular bilateral gynandromorph

[John W]

That is brill Is it just me or does the males side still look more orange and brighter than the female side too

That was my impression too.

Cheers
John

[Greenie]

If you look on 'July sightings' where I posted the original entry , there is a second close up shot of the head and abdomen , showing the line down the centre of the abdomen where he meets she . The eyes , antennae and tufts between are all different from one side to the other .
On the colour , yes , the male side was almost as bright as a male should be , and the female duller as normal , just as if someone had cut two butterflies in half and stuck opposite parts together again .
I have looked but not found it since , but am leading a Kent BC walk on site on Sunday , with many eyes looking , we might be lucky .

[Chris Jackson]

I never imagined that that could exist. Wow.
Chris

[Pete Eeles]

Colin Knight and Susie Milbank posted a similar bilateral gynandromorph in 2010 - in the aberrations section on this page: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species. ... ies=paphia

The cause of this "bilateral gynandromorphism" is explained in this article: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/reports_variation.php

Cheers,

- Pete