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Small Tortoiseshell and Meadow Brown

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 8:22 pm
by Dave McCormick
Saw this today and thought I would share: http://www.butterflyireland.com/News&Comments.htm anyone else seen anything like it? (I know blues can intermate and so can browns, but different ones such as this?)

Re: Small Tortoiseshell and Meadow Brown

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 8:32 pm
by Pete Eeles
Hi Dave - I've never seen this myself, but seen plenty of photos and heard of many reports.

Although I've seen photos of different species of "browns" apparently mating - especially pairs involving Meadow Brown, Ringlet and Gatekeeper - inter-family pairing seems to be confined to Small Tortoiseshell and Meadow Brown (based on memory!).

Cheers,

- Pete

Re: Small Tortoiseshell and Meadow Brown

Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 10:48 pm
by Crispin
That is amazing! What induces such strange intermate behavior ?