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Hi there,
I wandered into a different area today and saw these below. Can someone confirm what they are please. They are all in the South of France in the Parc Saint-Pons near Gémenos in the Bouches du Rhone.
Eastern Wood White or Wood White - tricky hey? (all 4 photos are the same individual) (context photos lower down): Is this a Black-eyed Blue? I saw it laying earlier on Spanish Broom: Is this an old washed-out Holly Blue also laying on Spanish Broom?: Context for all this above: Thanks, Chris

Hi Chris. Female sinapis is harder to separate from duponcheli than the male because the underside of the antennae are greyish rather than white. But the extent of the grey is supposed to be greater in sinapis and yours certainly looks like this. The underside also looks completely compatible with sinapis and not really good for duponcheli, so I would plump for sinapis here, with some confidence (but not 100% as I've never seen duponcheli). Reali and juvernica are insufficiently well known to be confident about them but officially, I believe, neither is known from where you were.

The Glaucopsyche seems to defeat my rule-of-thumb about the spots - it is most unusual for the spot in s.2 of the forewing to be so far from the margin. But everything tells me this is alexis. Spotting is variable in all blues and I guess this is simply the exception that proves the rule!

Holly definitely.

Guy

Thanks Guy,
I'll go for sinapis and alexis then.
One always hopes to discover something a little out of the ordinary, but then even for these, you have to go out into the sticks and look patiently, they don't come and look for you.
Thanks, Chris

Hi Chris, sorry for the late posting. The Glaucopsyche blue I also believe to be 'alexis' for the reason that 'melonops' has faint sub marginal markings on the underside of both wings which is absent in alexis. have a quick look at at these photos http://www.garyhulbert.co.uk/melanops.html
The pictures show a displaced spot in s2 but I think the sub marginals are the key.
Hope this helps, cheers Gary

Thanks Gary, I see what you mean about the sub-marginal markings. I'll keep an eye out for that in the future.
Cheers, Chris

Just a note about duponcheli. The spring generation is easy to recognise thanks to the distinctly greenish hindwing underside. You will know it when you see it. Here's one I prepared earlier, June 1981 to be exact, on the shores of lake Mikri Prespa, N.W. Greece.

Thanks Mikhail for the photo, that duponcheli does look a lot greener under the hind wings.
Chris