Meadow Fritillary

[Tony Moore]

Recently had a few days in the Pyrenees Orientales and would appreciate some help. I have not seen Meadow Frit before (maybe still not )
Are any or all of the following parthenoides?

Tony M.

[Padfield]

Hi Tony. Can you match any of these ups to uns?

Guy

[Tony Moore]

Sorry, Guy - all different insects, taken over two days in a very small area.

Tony.

[Padfield]

It's very tough. None of them screams out parthenoides, though I'm aware that the Pyrenean forms are slightly different from the alpine ones that normally scream at me. Of the uppersides, the first two, male and female, seem anomalous but just compatible. The third, a male, I don't think can be - it's too far out.

I've been getting the visual equivalent of semantic satiation, staring at these pictures for about ten minutes! I think I'll come back to them, perhaps after someone else has commented. The problem in the eastern Pyrenees is that false heath fritillary appears in many guises, with both ups and uns much more like heath and meadow than the 'normal', darker, alpine versions. Your first upperside shows the characteristic dumbell mark of many of these forms - rather than the usually neat, oblique mark of meadow.

Guy

[Tony Moore]

Thanks, Guy,

I had worried about the 'dumbell', but thought the general colour and light hindwing markings too pale for False Heath (which I've also only seen from photographs). The jizz seemed the same for all these butterflies, and at least one was very small (large blue size). I definitely saw the oblique S1 markings on several butterflies (which is why I thought they might all be MF), but was surprised when I returned home to find that I had no clear shots of this feature. This stuff is so difficult, and these pix are only the beginning .

Tony.