www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Haute Savoie early June 09... I have it (same spec.) as malvae, but onopordi??.. seems possible.

I hate to say it ... But malvae.

For me, there's no doubt there (except for the malvoides thing, which I still haven't fully grasped, but even there I go for malvae).

Sorry!! Come out to my place in April or August for real onopordi.

Guy

OK.... so be it.. - but I will keep you to that sometime!!

Do!

There are lots of reasons why that is malvae, but the one-sided anvil is classic. Funnily enough, they look exactly like that on my onopordi site, where the two species fly together!

Guy

These are from the same site:


(onopordi)


(malvae)

So I think you'll agree with my verdict...

Guy

Lovely photos.. that makes a great deal of difference, at least one of the guides suggests onopordi has "the typical anvil"... well to my mind that is the malvae shape, but now I know what they are trying to portray. "squashed nail"would be perhaps more evocative of the correct shape... maybe there would be other, better, terms.

Mind you, it's a long time since I saw an anvil..

Thanks again Guy

Once you get it, it's an unmistakable underside. Here's a different individual from this year (the other was from last year):



Little by little I think I'm getting Pyrgus sorted, but it's an incredibly diffifcult group.

Guy