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puple on bottom wing of fritillary?
Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2009 9:53 am
by rachel
Hi,
I saw an absolutely beautiful butterfly in the Forest of Dean this weekend which was quite large (larger then the red admiral I saw just before) and seemed to have the markings of a fritillary. It was distinct however in that it had very purple colour on the top side of its lower wing. I do not have a clue what it could have been? It was flying along a path clearing through the woods and landed on brambles to allow me to have a good look at it (but of course not long enough for a photograph). Any clues?
Re: puple on bottom wing of fritillary?
Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 11:16 am
by Trev Sawyer
Hi Rachel...
It surely has to have been a Purple Emperor... The purple sheen will appear on different wings depending on the angle from which it is viewed, so don't mistakenly think it will always appear purple all over as in some photos. Same family (Nymphalidae) as the fritillaries.
Trev
Re: puple on bottom wing of fritillary?
Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 3:17 pm
by m_galathea
I was thinking more along the lines of an aberration as there have been so many this year. The dark patches on aberrant Silver-washed Fritillaries for example can almost look purple and would fit this description. Here's a good example:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15121707@N00/3696870219/
...Purple Emperors are not known from the Forest anyway are they?
Alexander
Re: puple on bottom wing of fritillary?
Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 3:42 pm
by Trev Sawyer
Ah... that's where my theory may fall down Alexander...
Trev
Re: puple on bottom wing of fritillary?
Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 9:57 pm
by Matsukaze
It used to - see the distribution map at
http://www.thepurpleempire.com/NewFiles/notes.html. Maybe it is still there - is anyone looking?
Re: puple on bottom wing of fritillary?
Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 8:07 am
by Padfield
What about
valesina? This can have purple reflections.
http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species/ ... Jul-05.jpg
(That picture is Simon Crampin's, reproduced on this site)
Guy
Re: puple on bottom wing of fritillary?
Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 8:14 am
by Pete Eeles
I've also heard of aberrations that are "normal" on the forewings and "valesina" on the hindwings!
Cheers,
- Pete
Thanks for replies
Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 10:00 am
by rachel
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Thanks for your replies everyone. I am pretty sure it wasn't a purple emperor - it was predominantly orange and brown. The valensina looks the most like it in the photograph, although I can't find any other info on this - what is a valensina?
Re: purple on bottom wing of fritillary?
Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 11:15 am
by Denise
Hi Rachel.
Have a look at this, (scroll down the page to see the form valesina SWF.)
http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species. ... Fritillary
Denise
Re: puple on bottom wing of fritillary?
Posted: Sat Jul 18, 2009 3:15 pm
by eccles
Valesina is a genetic variation of the silver washed fritillary and occurs only in females.
Here's one I took recently that also showed a purple irridescence when it caught the light right.