Meadow Brown (maniola jurtina)
2008 photos highlighted green. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
|
|
|
|
| 10996_male_Var_31May08 | 10610_male_Var_19May08 | 13453_female_Cote d'Or_22Jul08 |
|
|
|
|
| 9270_female_Var_28Aug07 | 13459_female_Cote d'Or_22Jul08 | 1780_female_Var_7Jun06 |
A very common butterfly, almost certainly the most common in the UK, and perhaps in Europe too, although the Marbled White (melanargia galathea) might claim that distinction in southern France. The male has quite a dull brown upperside with a single apical ocellus, although the female has a strong orange upf post-discal band and greater contrast on the unh. It is - in my experience - generally a lowland species, unlike its cousin the Dusky Meadow Brown (hyponephele lycaon) which I have found only at altitude; the textbook altitude ranges are, however, stated as essentially sea level to just below 2000m for both species.
10996: a male, slightly more orange than most.
10610: a male, nice bright orange.
13453: a typical female.
9270: a female, based on the lack of contrast across the unh discal line and the enlarged unf ocellus. Altitude 920m.
13459: a female, quite a pale brown with very little grey.
1780: this has a strong discal line externally yellow-orange around the edge of the cell, with a dark submarginal unf band and a double ocellus. This is, I think, the form hispulla which occurs in Provence.
13453_female_Cote d'Or_22Jul08
13459_female_Cote d'Or_22Jul08
