Iberian Marbled White (Melanargia lachesis)
2011 photos highlighted in green. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
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| 20666_male?_Gard_12Jun10 | 25889_male_Gard_20Jun11 | 25873_male_Gard_20Jun11 |
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| 25800_female_Gard_19Jun11 | 25811_female_Gard_19Jun11 | 25842_female_Gard_20Jun11 |
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A principally Iberian species whose distribution extends eastwards along the southern areas of France, to about Avignon. I first saw lachesis in 2010 near Nīmes at a location I had been told about, and was at about the furthest eastern end of its distribution. There were maybe ten flying there, in company with the Marbled White (M. galathea) from which it is easily distinguishable because of the increased whiteness of lachesis both on the upperside and underside. |
It seemed rather nervous and difficult to approach, but maybe these were freshly emerged, at the start of their flight period, and just highly active.
Revisiting the site in 2011, lachesis was flying in good numbers, counted in hundreds, but, curiously, galathea was not present.
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| ref | sex |
observations |
alt. m |
| 20666 | M |
this may well be a male based on its pose and slightly closer match to the markings as shown in T&L (not always a good method of determining sex). |
60 |
| 25889 | M | This is clearly a male based on body shape. Its strange behaviour on the ground is explained by the fact that it had been in the clutches of a crab spider from which I rescued it. It appeared unharmed when I placed it on the ground, but it soon transpired that the poison had already taken effect and a minute or two later it was dead. | 60 |
| 25873 | M | a male underside, very white by contrast with the creamy-yellow females. | 60 |
| 25800 | F | a female underside, a delicate pale beige. | 60 |
| 25811 | F | a female underside, very faintly marked and washed over beige. | 60 |
| 25842 | F | a female, the discal markings in the cell region being distinctly different to the others on this page where the discal line reduces to a single thin line. | 60 |
