Insectorium Thread.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

[Calilasseia]

Right, it's time for some butterfly photos. Today was something of a red letter day in the front garden, and I'll explain why in due course. First of all, here's the Red Admiral that turned up in the garden:

[Calilasseia]

And another shot of the same handsome butterfly ...

[Calilasseia]

Next up, one of the three Small Tortoiseshells that turned up. This one looked as if it had been taking part in a low-level deep penetration strike mission, and taken several hits from SAMs in the process ...

[Calilasseia]

This one, on the other hand, was in much better shape.

[Calilasseia]

And now, for the two Commas that turned up. Already, it's possible to see in this shot, why one of the specimens is a bit special, but I'm jumping the gun here. All will be explained shortly.

[Calilasseia]

And another view of the two specimens on the Buddelia inflorescence ...

[Calilasseia]

Now, a shot of the first of these two specimens, which I've labelled the "ordinary" specimen. Note the hindwings in this specimen, which are uniformly orange and brown. The relatively dark hue is also typical of late-season Commas in the UK.

[Calilasseia]

Now we come to the special specimen, which, thanks to those markings on the hindwings, I labelled the "Stoplight Comma".

This specimen is unusual for several reasons. One, the base colour is much lighter and more vivid than the "ordinary" specimen featured above, and indeed, is close to the brightness usually seen in specimens labelled f. hutchinsoni by taxonomists. However, f hutchinsoni individuals have a well-documented cause: if the spring-generation larvae are exposed to relentlessly increasing day length and excellent levels of sunshine, then they emerge from pupation as bright individuals with an almost yellow base colour. This form was named after one Emma Hutchinson, a Victorian lady who studied the species in depth, and who made the first connection between increasing day length experienced by the larvae, and bright base colour in the adults, a connection that has since been established by relevant laboratory experiments. Now, f. hutchinsoni type Commas are usually seen on the wing in late May at the earliest, more usually June and July, and it's extremely rare to see them much beyond the end of July. Moreover, they only appear in excellent summers, and this year, whilst May was a good month for sunshine in the UK, June was a disaster, and I thought the dreadful June weather had destroyed any chance of seeing f. hutchinsoni Commas this year. Worse still, I only saw one specimen of the species prior to today during the whole of the year, and that specimen was a particularly tatty specimen that obviously thought it wasn't worth appearing on camera, and scooted off when I approached it. Consequently, I was not expecting to see this resplendent specimen, and certainly not one exhibiting near-hutchinsoni brilliance in late September!

Second, this specimen has visible and prominent "stoplight" markings on the hindwings, that I've never seen in a Comma before, and I've photographed enough specimens over the past 17 years to know something about this species. As will be seen, those "stoplight" markings are a bit special ... but first, enjoy this photo.

[Calilasseia]

Next, a closer look at the same specimen. In this shot, the left hand "stoplight" marking appears to have pink scales attached thereto, a phenomenon seen more usually in Painted Ladies, and known "in the trade" so to speak, as an "amethystus". I've never seen amethystus scales in a Comma before, so this specimen is already more than a tad unusual ...

[Calilasseia]

Another brief look at the same specimen ...

[Calilasseia]

This photo shows that the "stoplight" markings are a refractive phenomenon, whose appearance is strongly dependent upon the incident light angle. In this shot, the markings have faded to indistinct light patches.

[Calilasseia]

In this shot, both "stoplight" markings look pink!

[Calilasseia]

And likewise in this close up.

Indeed, this specimen is so unusual, I think it may be worth passing on the photos to an entomological journal.

[Gawdzilla Sama]