Purple-edged Copper (lycaena hippothoe)
2008 photos highlighted green. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
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| 7624_male_Alpes Maritimes_26Jun07 - eurydame | 05_23-32_male_Ariege_23Jul05 - hippothoe | 7376_male_Alpes Maritimes_24Jun07 - eurydame |
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| 3035_male_Alpes Maritimes_25Jul06 - eurydame | 2920_female_Alpes Maritimes_24Jul06 - eurydame | 05_22-13_female_Ariege_23Jul05 - hippothoe |
There are two
forms in France, the nominate form hippothoe, which is
found in the Pyrenees at a range of 400-1800m, the male
showing the purple colouration that gives it it's name (just about visible
on 05_23-32), and eurydame,
the alpine form,
7624: a typical male eurydame, a very fiery red colouring, with a clean strong black border extending along the veins, but only a vestigial upf black discoidal spot. Altitude 1875m.
05_23-32: an old photo of a male hippothoe nominate form, showing the slight purple flush at the base of the uph.
7376: the slightly square hindwing angle suggest male, as in 3035. Also the "territorial" pose suggest male, but this may not be indicative. I would consider this to be more normally marked than 3035 and the slight orange unf flush to be normal. Altitude 2100m.
3035: a very pale grey ground colour, constant across both wings, with very light markings. The square hindwing angle strongly suggest male. Altitude 2040m.
2920: I am very unclear about this. I feel it must be a female eurydame, but the strong uph orange lunules and upf slight orange flush mitigate against this as T&L shows the female upperside as almost plain brown. The underside is just visible and looks (as far as I can see - click or scroll down to enlarge) to be very similar to a Purple-shot Copper (L. alciphron) nominate form, but T&L says the altitude range is 50-900m, so this is well beyond any possible margin of error as it was seen at 2040m. However, T&L says female eurydame may have vestigial orange submarginal markings (OK, that's a start), but also says that the unf is without an orange flush, which can just about be seen on the enlarged version. I'll go for female eurydame, despite the inconsistencies with the books.
05_22-23: a female of the nominate form hippothoe, showing the classic female copper pattern.
7624_male_Alpes Maritimes_26Jun07 - eurydame
7376_male_Alpes Maritimes_24Jun07 - eurydame
3035_male_Alpes Maritimes_25Jul06 - eurydame
2920_female_Alpes Maritimes_24Jul06 - eurydame
