Dusky Heath (coenonympha dorus)

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2008 photos highlighted green. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.

2485_male_Var_8Jul06	11117_male_Bouche du Rhone_4Jun08

A heat-loving butterfly limited to the far south-east (in France), often quite common. It is quite intricately marked and can vary between quite richly coloured, as 11117, to quite “washy” as in 2485. 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.

2485: unusually pale, and it doesn't seem due to wear. The ocelli are also quite small.

11117: a fresh male.

2485_male_Var_8Jul06

11117_male_Bouche du Rhone_4Jun08