Strange Purple Hairstreak.

[mvpike]

Purple Hairstreaks are out in force at Alners Gorse reserve in Dorset at the moment.

However I don't think there are many more like this individual?? Only managed a couple of very hurried shots before it zipped off into the woods.

[Pete Eeles]

Hi Mark - I've never seen anything like that. I wonder if it's an individual that's part of a mark-release-recapture analysis.

Cheer,

- Pete

[mvpike]

Totally baffled by it Pete!

[Wurzel]

I saw this when you first posted and straight away thought 'mark and release' study - possibly to see if Purple Hairstreaks disperse? Had you thought about contacting Butterfly Conservation to see if they've given permission for a study of this nature or if they know of any Universities running a study on Purple Hairstreaks?

Great shots by the way, you've tempted me to make a visit

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[mvpike]

That is a pretty good idea, I may well contact Butterfly Conservation.

I found this one well away from the "usual" Purple Hairstreak hotspots at the reserve so there may be something in the survey thing. How on earth do you put a white spot on a Hairstreak wing though for goodness sake?!

Mark.

[bugboy]

I'm not convinced it's a man made mark myself. Zooming in on the second picture you can just make out the individual scales around the edge of the white patch suggesting its a natural lack of pigment. Also if I were to do a mark and release on a hairstreak I'd be marking the underside to maximise the chances of marked ones being observed.

[dilettante]

Looking at the prominence of the veins running through the white patch, isn't just an absence of scales rather than unpigmented scales? I think we've seen things like this where wings get stuck together in the pupa or during emergence e.g. http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=6446&p=63869, or maybe just the scales were worn off for some reason?

[MikeOxon]

I tried a bit of enhancement of the area and the scale lines appear to continue under the white patch. Could it simply have been 'bombed' by a passing bird while basking with open wings?

detail from photo by mvpike

PH_white.jpg (49.16 KiB) Viewed 763 times

[mvpike]

A very interesting set of theories guys, thanks.

The only thing I can add is that it definitely looked like the white colouring was actually "part of the butterfly" rather than something independently applied?

Mark.