15691_male_Doubs_03Jun09
20402_female?_Doubs_31May10
20522_male?_Doubs_31May10
Violet Copper (Lycaena helle)
2011 photos highlighted in green. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
|
|
|
|
|
15691_male_Doubs_03Jun09 |
20466_male_Doubs_31May10 | 20481_female_Doubs_31May10 |
|
|
|
|
| 20508_female_Doubs_31May10 |
20402_female?_Doubs_31May10 |
20522_male?_Doubs_31May10 |
|
A charming little copper of the wetlands. In France it only occurs in a few localities in the north-east, although it has been introduced, apparently successfully, in the central region of the Morvan. It is tied strongly to its larval hostplant, Bistort (Polygonum bistorta), although often settling on nearby bushes at around 1.5-2 metres off the ground. At least, that is my experience based on two visits to this location where it was plentiful, but then only in the immediate vicinity of the Bistort. |
The male has a violet sheen across both wing surfaces, especially when fresh, and my photos from 2009 were taken at the end of the flight period (when females predominated) and did not do it justice. 2009 was quite an "early" year for helle, emerging slightly earlier than usual. I revisited the site in 2010 when I was graced with 20 minutes of weak sun on an otherwise overcast day and was rewarded by a brief spell of activity by helle that were considerably fresher than in 2009. It is quite a difficult species to photograph, in the wetland habitat, so these photos are the best I was able to get. |
| ref | sex |
observations |
alt. m |
| 15691 | M |
a male, very worn and with all the violet scaling lost, and as such could easily be mistaken for the Sooty Copper (Lycaena tityrus), which was also flying at the same location. It is sitting on Bistort. |
860 |
| 20466 | M |
a fresh male, with the beautiful violet sheen almost intact. |
860 |
| 20481 | F |
a female, reasonably fresh and showing the beautiful colouring of the female, just a few violet-blue markings in the post-discal regions of both wings. |
860 |
| 20508 | F |
a female, slightly more worn than 20481, sitting on Bistort. |
860 |
| 20402 | F? |
possibly a female, base on the slightly greater curvature of the hindwing at the anal angle. It was also quite large, as I recall, which also suggests female. |
860 |
| 20522 | M? |
I suspected this may be a female based on the lighter colouring, but the hindwing curvature suggests male (see comment on 20402). |
860 |
