Just when I thought I was getting a grip on
Pyrgus!!
This individual is quite unlike any
alveus I have seen in Switzerland, France or Spain. The very strong central spot on the hindwing is not characteristic of western forms of the species. On the other hand, the weakly marked forewing doesn't look like the French or Spanish
armoricanus I've seen either, and what can be seen of the underside doesn't look convincing! Nevertheless, of the two I would definitely plump for
armoricanus over
alveus.
It is probably impossible to be definitive from a photo.
P. armoricanus is rare in Switzerland but last year Matt and I were convinced we had found an individual. This is it:
The best underside shot I could get was this:
We examined it in the hand and were both satisfied on all counts. The Swiss recorder rejected the record on the grounds that it
could have been
alveus. The dates suggested
alveus rather than
armoricanus, though in recent years flight seasons have been a bit screwed up and that was certainly not the decisive factor. The long and the short of it was that for some species, for example,
armoricanus, proof is needed, in the form of a dead butterfly. Neither Matt nor I do that sort of proof, so our butterfly will remain a 'might-have-been'.
For the record, it is not necessarily the case that
malvae has a submarginal line of white spots on the forewing. This ssp.
malvoides (identification not in doubt) clearly lacks the spots, just like your insect:
This is a Swiss ssp.
malvae (I think - the distribution of
malvae/
malvoides in Switzerland is unclear), similarly without those spots:
I don't think your insect is
malvae though - it would really be very anomalous if it were!!
Guy
PS... I;m guessing 