www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this, inspired by a butterfly walk with the wildlife trust last weekend to get more involved.

Is this one a gatekeeper? It seems a bit too dark in colour, but that looks like the closest I could get. I saw it with wings open but couldn't get a picture. It was mainly orange. Taken this morning at Hengistbury Head.

Thank you

It is a Gatekeeper, but looks aberrant to me ... nice find!

Cheers,

- Pete

Thank you! That's really interesting.

What does aberrant mean? I'm a complete novice so please excuse my complete lack of knowledge….

Hi Laura,
Butterflies of the same species often differ very slightly in their pattern/colour. If the difference is not within the usual range of what is generally found for that species, it may be classed as "aberrant". Pete put together a very good article on this website and it shows photographic examples of butterfly variation - see http://www.dispar.org/reference.php?id=17 It might look a bit complicated at first viewing, but have a read through and I think you will find it very informative.

Trev

Welcome to the site Laura, thats a great first picture to post, I've never seen a Gatekeeper that dark. Some people get very excited about aberrants and there's another user on here who goes by the name Wurzel who has a bit of a thing about Gatekeeper aberrants, if he see's your's he may well get exceedingly excited!

Oh and you'll find everyone very friendly on here so no need to apologise for asking questions, the only silly question is one thats not asked!

Thank you to you both for the info. I will have a read of that article.

I'm glad it's something interesting

Ahh! This is so interesting.

Funny that the author mentions A-level Biology early on in the article - I am an A-level Biology teacher and will now have another case study to add to my lessons on genetic sex-linkage. Super.

It's perhaps worth mentioning, although you are probably well aware already, that butterflies (like birds and some fish, etc) use the ZW sex-determination system. In this system, the ovum determines the sex of the offspring, in contrast to the XY sex-determination system (mammals etc), in which the sperm determines the sex.

Good luck with your butterflying and I look forward to seeing more photos!

Mike