www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

This photo has been driving me crazy for a while now. I photographed this mating pair right on the edge of east Dartmoor. I had specifically gone to photograph High Brown Frits which are now scarce in this area. I saw one fresh male nectaring on bramble. A little later I moved higher up the slopes to see the abundant Dark Green Frits and only looked closely at this photo much later. I am trying to convince myself that this is a male adippe mating with a female aglaja. I'm just not sure as I've never seen two different species of frit mating in the wild before and was not totally sure if colour variation in individuals of the same species could this different. I would be interested in any comments.

Regards
Mike

These both look like Dark Greens to me; among other diagnostics, adippe has a secondary row of "ocelli" on the hindwing.
Cheers,

- Pete

Thanks Pete,
It was the reddish underwing spots which threw me and made me unsure. I had checked the lit, and most other features fitted Dark Green, but I wanted another opinion. The High Brown I photographed nearby is in the two photographs below.

Regards
Mike

False Apollo wrote:Thanks Pete,
It was the reddish underwing spots which threw me and made me unsure. I had checked the lit, and most other features fitted Dark Green, but I wanted another opinion. The High Brown I photographed nearby is in the two photographs below.

Regards
Mike

Hi Mike - no worries. I completely understand! Yes, that is definitely adippe!

Cheers,

- Pete

I feel sure that these are both Dark Greens (A.aglaia). Looking at my own photos of undersides, there is quite a wide range of colouration between green and brown. The key identification feature on the underside of the High Brown (A.adippe) is the extra row of silver spots, ringed in dark red/brown; there is no hint of these in either of your specimens. It's a nice photo of a mating pair, though

Mike

edit - crossed with Pete! I'm referring to the original pics.

I think the contrast in colour is due to one (almost certainly the female) being freshly emerged, before time wears away the early lustre of the scales.

Many thanks Mike and David,
There are surprisingly few illustrations in books of the variation of Dark Green undersides, which does show the value of photographing species year after year as you say Mike. I did think this was probably a Dark Green pairing, but I had a nagging doubt. I did look through lots of books at undersides but they were all typical.

Regards
Mike

This is one that I think was probably freshly hatched, as David says.

http://www.butterfliesoffrance.com/html ... ce_30Jun13_

Roger

Wow, Roger - wonderful shot .

Tony M.

Yes Roger, I think you photo shows a similar individual to the one I saw. The light no doubt emphasises the underside on being freshly emerged. Lovely photo.

Regards
Mike

This thread has provided a reminder of the variability in the appearance of our butterflies. This variation can depend on gender, the age of the specimen since emergence, and the lighting conditions under which they are observed. In the case of the Dark Green Fritillary, many field guides show a single illustration of the underside, sometimes with the comment "male - underwings of the female are similar"

To demonstrate the reality, I put together a few examples from my own photo collection (click the photo to enlarge):
These examples show great differences in the underside colours; some much browner than others.

Mike