www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Thank you for the compliment Trevor . Where I come from (NE), we call a spade a spade - I was definitely sweating!!!!

Not a patch on your recent shots Mike, but thank you. Having never seen that before I was well pleased

I appreciate that Neil - that shot (deer) is probably one of my all time favourites, not because of the quality but because of the memories

Hi Mark, yes, I was surprised at the behaviour too. It wasn't just once, but 3 or 4 times that butterfly looked to all intents and purposes as though she was egg-laying. Once she had flown I scrutinised that plant but I could find no sign of an egg so I haven't a clue what was going on I'm sure I would have seen an egg if there had been one.

I wish you could give me similar reassurances regarding the other wildlife being displaced Martin

You are so good at spotting these details David. I had actually noticed the lack of spots but put it down to 'normal' variation. However, having now looked at this web site I am wondering if it was an ab?

Good to hear from you Kev and thank you very much

Having eventually shaken off the persistent Small Blue I made my way along the track but was soon distracted by a patch of nettles (I have learned recently that there is a wealth of interesting creatures to be found there). The first creature that caught my attention was an amazing beast. I really couldn't believe what I was seeing. Face on, it looked like a little deer, or rabbit, or rat - definitely something other than a beetle in the nettles!!! I wondered if I was getting a bit fanciful having recently read 'Seeing Butterflies' about mimicry. As I was taking a few photos Andy Barker approached doing his transect and was able to confirm that it was quite an unusual Longhorn Beetle, and agreed that it looked like an animal's face. I have since done a little research and I believe it is AGAPANTHIA VILLOVIRIDESCENS (Golden Bloomed) which was recorded in Hampshire for the first time only a few years ago. (Please feel free to correct or add any details). A few shots before moving on again:

Hi Pauline

Yes a striking beastie. I found one a couple of years ago at Farley Mount.
It hasn't reached the New Forest yet.

Full name is Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn beetle,

Cheers

Maurice

HI Pauline

Amazing creatures, they look like they should live somewhere exotic I ran into one for the first time last year. What startled me was the fact that it emitted a loud squeak when disturbed By coincidence I ran into a threesome of said creature yesterday, pictures to follow shortly in my diary.

Good to hear from you Maurice and thank you for its full title. My memory seems to be getting worse as I get older but that is one I definitely shall remember

Goodness Paul, if I'd known about the squeak I might have been tempted to disturb it just to hear the sound (except I couldn't reach it as it was in the middle of quite a large patch). Do you know what causes the squeak - is it the rubbing together of legs or is it actually vocal? I'm looking forward to seeing your photos.

Just a quick interruption to give an update on the DGF I picked up recently. It has now pupated. I have managed to get a couple of poor shots but without disturbing it too much this was the best I could do, camera hand held at an awkward angle:
The remaining White Admiral continues to thrive (I still do not know what happened to the other little cat) and I am looking forward to seeing it pupate soon hopefully. The stark black background is the mesh of the cage it is in. I have avoided disturbing it, even to the extent of not moving the pot to a more suitable place for photos, in case it causes any stress.

Love the 'deer face' pic of the Longhorn beetle

Going back a bit, I think those Small Blue pics are delightful - like water-colour paintings. According to Russwurm 'Aberrations of British Butterflies' : "the spotting on the underside varies considerably, and specimens with all spotting absent except the discoidals are not uncommon" (ab. caeca). When the spotting is reduced (like yours), it is apparently known as ab. parvipuncta Tutt.

Mike

It was an exciting find for me Mike ! Thank you too for that compliment - it is much appreciated. It is also good to know what type of ab it is - I think I might have put it in the wrong SS Album - Vince?

Early evening I did 'my' escorted transit around Noar Hill and to keep things brief I could only find 3 Brimstone cats, although they seem to be growing well (another windy evening).
The first pair of Duke eggs I checked looked exactly the same as they did last week ie. one looked 'full' and the other looked clear and 'empty' so I did not bother to take another photo. I could not find the batch that Andy originally located but I think it is because everything has grown so much. I then went on to locate the other batch of 6 eggs which I originally found. There was no sign of any eggs but there was one very tiny larva. I couldn't see it very well even with my reading specs but I had brought a hand lens too I really hope this is a Duke cat otherwise I am going to feel really stupid posting 3 shots:
I am hopeful that the id is correct as there were some typical feeding damage to the leaf (should have taken a photo of it ).

I next moved on to the batch Mike found. I am sorry to have to say that I found no trace of any eggs whatsoever. It is frustrating as I was hoping to be able to confirm their ID. I shall keep checking this plant as it was early (6.30pm ish and still sunny). I am still hoping that next week there will at least be feeding damage. Whilst scrutinizing this plant I came across another cat. I would be grateful if anyone could give me any clues:

Great pictures Pauline, the hatchling Duke being particularly cute. I'm hoping to find some myself when I next visit my closest Duke site.

That last caterpillar is actually a Sawfly larvae, not sure which species but easy to seperate them from Lepi cats when you see that they have a few extra sets of prolegs

Pauline wrote: It is also good to know what type of ab it is - I think I might have put it in the wrong SS Album - Vince?

The whole business of aberrations seems to be a minefield. The book I looked at (Russwurm) only seems to list a few possibilities. I have just been reading bits of Tutt's 'British Lepidoptera Vol.10' - he writes at very great length and describes lots of individual specimens.

On page 108 he writes "those with the normal number, but very small, and the marginal rings usually lost in the ground colour, we call ab.parvipuncta, n. ab." and "The extreme form, i.e., that on which all the spots except the discoidals are wanting, are very rare = ab. extrema, n. ab."

Since your specimen seems to have a few spots completely missing, I now don't think either of these descriptions fits .

Later, on p.109, he writes "ab. obsoleta, Tutt, "Brit. Butts.," p. 161 (1896) ..... —An underside aberration with the spots almost or quite obsolete (Tutt). Aigner-Abafi gives almost the same description as ourselves, viz., "beneath with only 2, 3, or no eyespots at all."

and then, on p.110 "ab. semiobsoleta, n. ab.—With the spots on the underside of the forewings present, but those usually present on the underside of the hindwings entirely absent. A specimen in the Brit. Museum Coll."

After attenpting to digest all that, it seems to me that yours fits 'obsoleta' better than 'semiobsoleta', where the 'semi' implies a difference between the wings, with the hindwings completely unspotted.

I suspect that the categories in the species gallery may be the wrong way round but I'll let the real experts think about that

Incidentally, Tutt can be downloaded as a PDF from https://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryof10tutt

Mike

I received Aberrations of British Butterflies (Russworm, 1978) book last week and I must admit to being a little disappointed about the apparent lack of aberrations for a number of species. There is also a book 'Variation in British Butterflies' by A S Harmer which I believe is just about the afore-mentioned author rather than an authoritative text on the aberrations themselves. Does anyone have this book and is it worth buying?

Mike, thanks for the link for the natural history archive which I will definitely delve into.

ATB

Peter

I think small blues with few or no spots are quite common? I see several most years and assumed this to be just normal variation rather than an aberration? If not then they must be the butterfly with the highest proportion if aberrants ever or I am just very lucky with them! Might have to dig out a few and post, though as they are so common I don't make an effort to photograph these.

peterc wrote:I received Aberrations of British Butterflies (Russworm, 1978) book last week and I must admit to being a little disappointed about the apparent lack of aberrations for a number of species. There is also a book 'Variation in British Butterflies' by A S Harmer which I believe is just about the afore-mentioned author rather than an authoritative text on the aberrations themselves. Does anyone have this book and is it worth buying?

Harmer's book is a classic work and has a great introduction to the mechanics of variation. But it, too, does not contain a comprehensive list of abs. if that's what you're after. For this, the closest I've seen (and have) is "ABERRATIONAL AND SUBSPECIFIC FORMS OF BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA" by A.L. Goodson and D.K. Read. At 465 pages long (with no illustrations, just text), and 10 aberrations (on average) described per page, you're looking at 4000+ named aberrations. It also does a good job at identifying synonyms. The work was never published (it was created while the authors worked at the BMNH) and many copies are photocopies of photocopies etc. so the quality isn't good.

When I last met with Geoff Martin (Lepidoptera collections manager at the BMNH) the question of copyright came up - probably because I'd started to transcribe the definitions for us on UKB - a mammoth task that is still incomplete, as we all know! We never concluded that conversation - but Geoff did suggest that maybe it would make sense for the BMNH to just make a PDF of the work available on their website. I've not discussed this with Geoff since, or seen it emerge.

Cheers,

- Pete

Wonderful find with the longhorn Pauline...and not half bad images either come to think about it

Regards,

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

Pete Eeles wrote:

peterc wrote:I received Aberrations of British Butterflies (Russworm, 1978) book last week and I must admit to being a little disappointed about the apparent lack of aberrations for a number of species. There is also a book 'Variation in British Butterflies' by A S Harmer which I believe is just about the afore-mentioned author rather than an authoritative text on the aberrations themselves. Does anyone have this book and is it worth buying?

Harmer's book is a classic work and has a great introduction to the mechanics of variation. But it, too, does not contain a comprehensive list of abs. if that's what you're after. For this, the closest I've seen (and have) is "ABERRATIONAL AND SUBSPECIFIC FORMS OF BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA" by A.L. Goodson and D.K. Read. At 465 pages long (with no illustrations, just text), and 10 aberrations (on average) described per page, you're looking at 4000+ named aberrations. It also does a good job at identifying synonyms. The work was never published (it was created while the authors worked at the BMNH) and many copies are photocopies of photocopies etc. so the quality isn't good.

When I last met with Geoff Martin (Lepidoptera collections manager at the BMNH) the question of copyright came up - probably because I'd started to transcribe the definitions for us on UKB - a mammoth task that is still incomplete, as we all know! We never concluded that conversation - but Geoff did suggest that maybe it would make sense for the BMNH to just make a PDF of the work available on their website. I've not discussed this with Geoff since, or seen it emerge.

Cheers,

- Pete

Thanks for that, Pete. It will be good to know what transpires out of this. At least, this website has a good selection of aberrations and no doubt will grow.

ATB

Peter

Appreciate that Buggy - I was particularly pleased at finding the Duke larva (once I had verified that's what it actually was). It was just soooo tiny! Thanks too for explanation re sawfly.

Thank you for that detailed explanation Mike. It is a lot to take in (had to read it a few times ) but very useful, together with the following discussion.

Hi John, nice to hear from you. I would love to see some of your shots so please feel free to post in my diary (everybody else does ).

Think a bit harder Bill - they're GREAT images . Seriously Bill, thank you!. I was even more delighted at finding a Duke larva - both firsts for me - which is what this year is all about

A few (hopefully better) shots of my pupated DGF and WA larva, both of which I am obsessed with:

We have had some very heavy rain here over the last 36 hours. I thought my WA cat was being smart getting under his leaf out of the storm:
... but no, it seems he has decided to pupate:
I hope he makes it through as it will give me a great deal of pleasure to return him from whence he came and set him free.

Well done finding the Duke larva Pauline, nice shots

Thank you Mike. I was excited to find it - at last! I don't often blame my camera but the cat was so tiny that was the best my Lumix could do. I shall keep checking 'your' plant.

A couple of Commas to brighten up a dreary morning:
and a Broad bodied chaser:
... and then it was back to the nettle patch where a variety of creatures were spotted - some known, most not:
Shield Bugs
Bag moth case
Unknown but lots of these had decimated 2 small Sallows
Cardinal beetle
.. and my first ever Scorpion fly (I think).

Great selection of photos Pauline, that is indeed a Scorpion Fly, a female. When you see a male you'll see just how they got their common name! You've also got a rather nice Crab Spider there, a click Beetle (I've had much fun with them as a kid) and a little weevil. Those black things on the willow might be Sawfly larvae...but don't quote me on that!

I also like those DGF pupae pics and your pupating WA cat. I'm looking forward to seeing my first WA so seeing yours pupating means I've only a few weeks before ticking off another lifer

Hi! pauline, Your Shield Bugs look just like an African mask I brought back from Haiti, Goldie

Hi Pauline

In answer to your question about the Golden-Bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle and its squeak, as far as I could tell it was able to inflate its abdomen somehow and force the air out somewhere.

I am keenly following the progress of your Dark Green Fritillary pupa, what a curiously shape it is. I think your White Admiral Pupa will be equally as curiously shaped. I look forward to seeing the emergences. Good luck with both