High Brown Fritillary (argynnis adippe)
2008 photos highlighted green. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
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| 2126_male_Isere_30Jun06 | 1709_male_Var_6Jun06 | 04_51-10_female_Alpes de Haute Provence_29July04 |
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| 03_13D_male?_Ariege_Jun03 - form cleodoxa | 2117_male_Isere_30Jun06 |
A seriously threatened butterfly in the UK, with a rapidly
receding range, but thankfully not so in France where it is quite widespread if
rarely common.
It is superficially similar to the
Dark Green Fritillary (A. aglaja)
and
There is also the form cleodoxa found principally in the south in which the silver unh spots are replaced by buff, as can just be seen in 03-13D above. I have found cleodoxa to be predominant in the Pyrenees but I have not encountered it (yet) in Var. There is also an intermediate form cleodippe (a nice merger of the names) which I have seen in the Pyrenees also.
2126: the same male as 2117. The upf sex brands on v2 and v3 are strong and clear. Altitude 1020m.
1709: I originally though this male was niobe because of the lighter general markings, and the light upf sex brands on v2 and v3. It just looked like niobe. The slightly concave forewings are 100% adippe, but are these actually concave, and can the camera angle distort this, making the forewings appear concave when they're not? The uph absence of a post-discal spot in s4 and the pinprick upf s4 spot are usually more indicative of adippe, but unreliable as a sole means of identification. It just doesn't look like adippe, and it was in an area where niobe were common. I still don't know - opinions invited. Altitude 250m.
04_51-10: a fairly heavily marked female. The absence of the sex brands (see 2126) point conclusively to female.
03_13D: the buff colouration, clear even from this angle, confirms cleodoxa.
2117: a typical male underside, easy to photograph when they are preoccupied taking salts, except that the photographer has to lie prostrate (often in the road) in
order to get a straight-on shot. Altitude 1020m.
