The first
Pyrgus is very difficult without more detail, but it could be:
serratulae: the discal s4/5 mark and the basal s7 look about right, as does the colour, but the discal s1 and marginal s2 do not look right, so probably not.
carlinae: the marginal v5 mark does not look classic
carlinae, so would tend to discount this. Also
carlinae is not often seen below 1500m and I suspect not below 1000m so maybe the Gorges du Loup is too low.
armoricanus: the marginal s1/s2 marks do not look right (
armoricanus is usually more sagittate and not “filled”), and the external edge of discal s4/5 does not look sufficiently cleft for
armoricanus.
alveus: often the default position when all others can be discounted, as this species has no real clear characteristic marks, but the leaning bump in discal s1 and other minor clues tend to indicate
alveus as the most likely candidate. It is known from that area, so that helps.
The second
Pyrgus, also hard to say from what I can see, but the reddish hue and the strongly leaning discal s1 bump point quite strongly to
cirsii, not uncommon in this region from late July/August onward. If you say you saw it in May, I would hastily revise.
If these references to the markings are unclear, this may help
http://www.butterfliesoffrance.com/Pyrg ... iagram.htm
there are three bands, marginal is at the wing edge, basal is at the body end and discal is in the middle.
The
Carcharodus photos are more intriguing. It is a worn specimen and not completely clear but I would be inclined to rule out
alceae on the grounds of the strong white uph discal band of spots;
alceae can have white markings here (this has been fiercely debated) but my feeling is that they could not be this complete or strong.
Flocciferus equally ruled out for the same reason, although
flocciferus has clear but much smaller white marks here. So this leaves
baeticus, the rare one of the three. The uph discal marks look right for this and there is a suggestion of a submarginal wavy line, albeit almost obliterated by wear. There are no previous records from the Gorges du Loup area, but this is I suspect a very under-recorded species because of its similarity to
alceae. I found it last year in a location with no previous records within 30km.
Guy may have limited experience of
baeticus but may have views on whether this could be
alceae or
flocciferus.
As has been said many times on this forum, an additional underside shot would be definitive, especially in the case of the
Carcharodus species.