www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Although I grew up on the Dorset heathlands I am hoping to officially find and photograph Silver Studded Blue for the first time this year. My dilemma is what do I label any photographs that I might get from Portland?

Adrian Riley (2007) seems to suggest that it is "Southern SSB" and is sub-specific cretaceus, Newlands (2006) says that those individuals from Portland are creataceus (possibly a spelling error?) wheras UK butterflies and the threads I've searched through say that cretaceus is extinct.

Reading that I'd made my mind up until I read the new edition of British Butterflies by Jeremy Thomas (1991, rev 2010) which agrees that cretaceus is extinct but then states that there are three subspecies of SSB, argus, caernensis,and the "blues of Portland".

So if I do visit Portland and find some SSB to shoot do I name them argus, cretaceus or SSB Portland variation, help!?

Wurzel

Hi Wurzel

I filmed these butterflies on Portland last year and they are not paler than the nominate ssp argus which I think cretaceus is meant to be and Pete Eeles informed me they were definitely not cretaceus. I therefore, assumed they were the nominate form. They do look different to the nominate form though, almost brighter more colourful if anything.

Sorry still haven't helped much but someone else will hopefully have a definitive answer.