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Hi all, I am a little bit puzzled. Under the species section for Large Copper there are images placed under subspecies batavus from the Dordogne? I believed that subspecies batavus is confined to the De Weeribben NNR and a few adjoining sites in northern Holland and that the French population belonged to subspecies rutilus. I would like to visit the De Weeribben reserve next year to photograph the batavus subspecies, so those of you that have been would you please share your experiences and help with information and when it is best to see the butterfly on the wing. I have Mr D.E. Newland's excellent book. Thank you Peter.

Hi Peter. According to Lafranchis (Les papillons de jour de la France, Belgique et Luxembourg et leur chenilles), the subspecies found in South-West France is burdigaliensis, which he describes as being more brightly coloured than carueli, which flies in the rest of France. That might explain why there are individuals labelled batavus from there - though I don't think there is actually any connection between batavus and burdigaliensis.

Usually, both subspecies are counted together as rutilus.

Guy

nomad wrote:Hi all, I am a little bit puzzled. Under the species section for Large Copper there are images placed under subspecies batavus from the Dordogne? I believed that subspecies batavus is confined to the De Weeribben NNR and a few adjoining sites in northern Holland and that the French population belonged to subspecies rutilus.

padfield wrote:Usually, both subspecies are counted together as rutilus.

Thanks both. I've moved the images accordingly. Well spotted! I'm afraid I have no direct experience of batavus in De Weeribben.

Cheers,

- Pete

Thank you for the information, it seems even with the European dispar French populations, the taxonomists do not agree.