Erebia issue

[Kip]

I would be very grateful for any confirmation this is manto. It was taken in the Haute Savoie at 1700m elevation on Monday. Am I correct in that the tiny black centres on the hindwing red spot(s) excludes eriphyle. It was accompanied by several oeme. It had me excited for a while but manto would be OK

Any comments appreciated, well almost any!!!

[Padfield]

Hi Paul. My first impression on seeing the picture was oeme, f. lugens. Then I saw you mention manto and I hesitated. What a pity there is no underside ...

I'm not sure what to conclude and will come back to it when I've got a little more time than this evening - but it might be worth noting the traces of white pupils in the forewing spots. That suggests oeme more than manto to me - but I haven't checked all manto for traces of a pupil.

Later,

Guy

PS - Are you still in the Haute Savoie? Do let me know if you pop into CH.

[Kip]

Thanks Guy, yes, there are white scales present, though hardly there at all, so oeme it is..... not seen that form before, so OK c'est la vie.

I am back in the UK now after a week of faultless weather but limited species success. I did consider getting in touch, but thought you might have better things to do than coax me up mountains I suspect the summer season at Samoens is just starting a week late for me. I have another chance in early August as I am fortunate enough to be going to Luchon in the Pyrenees, not sure what I will see there, maybe even a new species for me!!

I will put a posting on "Overseas" later.

[Roger Gibbons]

I'm interested in the outcome as I had this down as manto, given that eriphyle could be precluded on distribution grounds:

http://www.butterfliesoffrance.com/html ... ie_19Jul09_

I thought the uph marks were indicative of manto, but they may not be exclusive to that species.

Roger