www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Indulging in a bit of archiving to try and forget the cold outside, I uncovered a couple of shots from a holiday in Crete in May 2004. I recall reading somewhere that Crete has a number of endemic variations on the standard theme, and wondered if that applied to these two - on the face of it a Speckled Wood and an Eastern Festoon.

There was also a rather splendid Swallowtail caterpillar munching fennel.

So - is there a Cretan Festoon or a Cretan Speckled Wood?

Dave

Yes and no. That can only be Zerynthia cretica, which some consider Zerynthia cerisy cretica. The P. aegeria is the same there.

Thank you, JKT. One to relabel in that case.

Dave

There are only 3 species of speckled wood, Pararge, in the world, all found in the Western Palearctic. Xiphia and xiphioides are named from Madeira and the Canaries respectively. Everywhere else aegeria flies.

Guy