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Went out to Martin down yesterday, and got some pics of some Marbled Whites. When looking through the pics i noticed that one of them had black legs, yet all the others i got pics of have white legs. Is this a common anomaly or something to do with age.

Gruditch

White legs

Black legs

Hi Gruditch!

You got me examining the legs on the Marbled White pics I took yesterday - well, what else are Sunday mornings for?!

I noticed the same phenomenon amongst mine. In the close-up below, you can make out on the upper left leg a section of white on black. This makes me wonder whether Marbled Whites, when freshly emerged, have some white 'down' on their legs, which soon rubs off with wear and tear:



Either that or your anomalous Marbled White is just a bit kinky and likes wearing tights

Bryan

...or maybe one black leg and three white!!




Alex

In the absence of any other explanations I think Bryans theory sounds very reasonable. In the last post it looks as though the white has been rubbed off the inner leg...the area one would assume is most susceptible to chaffing on grass/plants etc.

Martin.