Dusky Heath (Coenonympha dorus)

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2011 photos highlighted in green. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.

2499_male_Var_8Jul06 11117_male_Bouches-du-Rhône_4Jun08

A heat-loving butterfly limited to the far south-east (in France), sometimes quite common. It is quite intricately marked and can vary between quite richly coloured, as 11117, to quite “washy” as in 2499. The underside metallic submarginal band is usually visible as in the enlarged version of 11117 below.

 Other heaths have this, and I find it quite strange that otherwise quite dull butterflies (compared to their more illustrious cousins) are blessed with a metallic stripe.
ref sex

observations

 alt. m
2499 M

unusually pale, and it doesn't seem due to wear. The ocelli are also quite small.

 780
11117 M

a fresh male, lovely bold ocelli and a wide fresh silver submarginal stripe.

 35

 

2499_male_Var_8Jul06

 

11117_male_Bouches-du-Rhône_4Jun08