IDs for Alpine Blues, Yellows and Whites

[sifenn]

Grateful to those who've helped with ID of some Ringlets and Graylings from Alpine/Auvergne holiday in early July, which I posted a couple of days ago; now I've rounded up some Blues, Yellows and Whites which I've pored over, but would again welcome confirmation or correction. And thanks to Roger Gibbons and the excellent Butterflies of France site for reference materials.

Blues
I saw hundreds of blues during the Alpine week, and I didn't pay them due attention as I had my head turned by fritillaries, ringlets and aristos, but a selection that I'm wondering about;

I think the vast majority were Mazarine and Small as per this puddling scene, though I note the lower 'small' appears to have no underwing markings.


I wonder if the following is a Reverdin's given the black spots at the base of the hindwings ?


I managed a shot of both upper and under of what I believe is an Adonis; wouldn't doubt in UK, but on the off-chance it's something I've mis ID'd. And then this 'Holly Blue' was taken at about 2000mtr, but I can't see anything else that has similar underwing markings.


This was the best shot I could get in a colony of what I took to be Silver-studded Blues, but again I note that there are a couple of other Euro blues that have the silver-studs, and I'd love to be wrong to up my blues tally...


White
Reviewing this puddling scene, I've convinced myself that it's a Mountain Green-veined White, based on BoF webpage description 'more heavily suffused grey'...


Clouded Yellows
I only saw my first UK Clouded Yellows last August, so it was great to see so many in the Alps, but very few came to rest and even fewer waited for me to focus, but eventually this one stopped on the mountain opposite Mont Blanc - I think it's a Moorland,


The next day of slightly cooler conditions brought me 3 more brief sightings; the first I think is a Mountain, the second a Pale, the third rather overexposed; maybe also a Pale ?


thanks for your attention - I'll be back with some Grizzled Skippers

Stockport Si

[Padfield]

Hi Si,

In order:

Yes - mazarine and little (small) blue - spotless little blues are an occasional phenomenon. I have photographed spotless mazarine blues too.

The blue you suspect of being Reverdin's is Adonis.

The next set is correct: Adonis, Adonis, holly.

I'm afraid the silver-stud is that!

That is probably a mountain green-veined white, though the range of variation in the male of this species overlaps with that of green-veined (and this is a male). Note the Aricia species in the group - presumably artaxerxes (and your spotless little blue).

Correct for the next moorland clouded yellow.

The next group of three is moorland, Berger's, mountain.

Guy

[Roger Gibbons]

You're sure about Moorland?

Roger

[Padfield]

You're sure about Moorland?

Yes - am I being stupid or missing something?

Guy

[Roger Gibbons]

It looks like Mountain (phicomone) to me. Sometimes it’s hard to pin down exactly why, but these are the clues I’m working on:

1. the forewing upperside marginal band doesn’t look at all solid
2. the underside hindwing discal mark is surrounded pink (palaeno usually has no surround)
3. the underside hindwing colouring is dark up to the post-discal area and there is clear contrast (palaeno is usually smooth across the whole surface)
4. the underside forewing discal mark is heavy (palaeno is usually lighter).

As usual, it was probably easier to tell in the field and the palaeno clean black border is quite apparent in flight whereas phicomone looks clearly “smudgy”.

[Padfield]

You're right, Roger - I was being stupid! And over-hasty.

My apologies.

Guy

[Roger Gibbons]

You don’t need to apologise. The amazing thing, given the hundreds of IDs you do on this site – and at high speed, is that oversights are very rare. There are very few people in Europe who could equal your success rate.

It has been said many times, but it is often very difficult to ID from photographs, especially from one surface only. The information you get in the field is far more indicative but of course you can’t transport this to a forum.

Si says he has some Pyrgus coming up. I was very impressed on the recent Mercantour trip (as in David M’s report) by the degree of interest in identifying the many Pyrgus we saw. By the end of the week the group was getting pretty good at IDing them in the field.

[sifenn]

Many thanks for the replies - so if I've understood correctly, the concensus is that I saw 3 x Mountain and 1 x Berger ?

The reality of the moment was trying to capture any sort of image after a mad dash across a hillside, for later reflection, as they really were not waiting around !

regards

Simon