Hello Nigel,
We met at the EIG meeting last year, did we not?
This illustrates why
Pyrgus are so difficult. I did get to look at these images (nice to have clear upper and under-sides to work from) on Thursday night when I was in Troyes en route back to the UK, where I am now and with reliable internet access.
Well, they must be something. Starting with #2, my feeling is that you are right about
carlinae. I have seen females as weakly marked as this (here is one:
http://www.butterfliesoffrance.com/html ... -_carlinae_)
The underside has three pointers which strongly suggest
carlinae to me:
1. the markings, especially in the discal band are rather narrow relatively to other
Pyrgus (c.f.
serratulae where the discal s4/5 mark is always rather wide).
2. the rectangular mark on v5 is just about neat enough for
carlinae, with a fairly clean internal edge, again relative to other
Pyrgus.
3. the colour is a rather reddish hue, which I tend to associate with
carlinae, and seemingly supported by the older taxonomy that says
cirsii is a subspecies of
carlinae, as
cirsii is always notably reddish.
#2 was rather more straightforward than #1, and #2 wasn’t definitive. So here are some thoughts on #1.
I feel the marks are too heavy and the altitude too high for
armoricanus. So what’s left?
Serratulae? Nope, it can be heavily marked but not like this, and there are several features on the unh that rule out
serratulae. I think the choices are – unlikely as it may seem –
alveus accretus or
bellieri. I
believe I have seen
accretus (image here:
http://www.butterfliesoffrance.com/html ... mes_8Jul10_)
I also have relatively little experience of
bellieri but, from what I have seen, this could well be a contender. The location and altitude don’t preclude
bellieri. Here are three reasons why this could be:
1. the upf marks are strong and quite jagged, a good indicator of
bellieri, although other species can have a little “jaggedness” but not quite to the same extent as male
bellieri. The uph marks are quite strong as well, also indicative of
bellieri and ruling out several other contenders.
2. the unh discal mark in s1 is unusually large and non-leaning. In my limited experience, this is strongly indicative of
bellieri.
3. the abdominal hair-tuft in
bellieri is extensive at the lower part of the end of the male abdomen, notably more so than for
alveus. This appears to me to be true here.
Unlikely as it seems, the evidence tends to suggest to suggest #1 is
bellieri. I always feel the burden of evidence is stronger when one of the options is a rare one.
I put these thoughts forward as contributions rather than any form of definitive rationale. Feel free to disagree on any points where I may be wrong.
Roger