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Unexpected behaviour 18th September, two Commas seemingly engaged in territorial sparring. I would not have expected that to happen until the spring.

Jack

Hi Jack.

Interesting. Ties in nicely with the appearance of f. Hutchinsoni across the south of England. There maybe an attempt at another brood.

Felix.

Hutchinsoni was flying in July with the odd straggler into August. But the September ones I have see close up so far have all been dark. The two seen sparring today were only observed in flight but looked dark although I couldn’t be 100% sure. So what you are suggesting is that a second emergence of hutchinsoni has occurred, maybe offspring of earlier hutchinsoni or perhaps delayed emergence? Either way, they could be sexually mature - hence the territorial behaviour - unlike the autumn dark form that hibernates and pre-hibernation, seems purely interested in stocking up on fuel (before the VAT rise).

I have no idea what is going on but I certainly thought the sparring observed today worthy of comment.

Jack

I remember when I was breeding commas and the breeding cage was roughly the same tempreture as outside, and it was in July I was doing this. 2 hatched as Hutchinsoni and one as a dark individual in around the same time, at the end of July. Not quite sure why it happened that way.

Could it be that this year, because of the warm June, the Hutchinsoni hatched, then July as they bred, the weather was cooler, then darker individuals appeared, and now because the weather has been good in August, got warm again from the cooler July, some Hutchinsoni were able to appear again if some caterpillars went to pupate slightly later than others because, the rise in tempreture compared to July could have made them appear and maybe that form is not "programmed" to hibernate, but produce those that do in another generation? Does anyone know if the Hutchinsoni forms live as long as darker individuals? If they don't then this could point to something