Megera is sometimes referred to as the Wall Brown or even the Wall Butterfly. Megera is superficially quite similar to the Large Wall (L. maera), although there are significant differences on close inspection, and these are addressed on the maera page. Megera is declining alarmingly in the UK but still reasonably common in southern France, although maera sometimes seems commoner, especially at medium and high altitudes. Megera emerges very early in the season and again in October when it seems to be quite common, in places very common, in Var. It is a difficult butterfly to photograph, I find, as it settles and opens it wings briefly two or three times, then closes them permanently.

observations

a typical male.

a male, I think, even though it has been suggested that the absence of an orange band in the uph post-discal area indicates NOT megera (and therefore maera) - this is also stated by Lafranchis as a key indicator of megera. However, the upf is so clearly megera that I feel on balance it would be more likely that the uph orange band would be missing from megera rather than maera having the classic megera upf markings. Comments invited.

a female, quite extensively marked orange, which, in many respects, looks remarkably like the T&L illustration of the female maera of the southern form adrasta. However, the orange in the uph post-discal region is a pointer toward megera.

a female. It is exceptionally orange and looks nothing like the illustration in T&L.

a male: the underside carries several suggestions of maera, notably the number of rings in each ocellus, the general light colouring, and the large unf ocellus, but the consistency of the size of the unh ocelli is a sure pointer to megera, as noted on the maera page.