UK Butterflies
Building a Community of Responsible Butterfly Enthusiasts in Britain & Ireland
Building a Community of Responsible Butterfly Enthusiasts in Britain & Ireland
This page provides access to all named aberrations of a given species and Goodson & Read (1969) is a key resource in this regard.
Aberration in this species is usually expressed in either the upperside ground colour (particularly in the female), and the shape and size of the silver spots on the underside. Aberration is generally rare in this species, although different individuals do often vary in the shade of the underside ground colour. In recent years the aberration juncta (Tutt) has been seen on a number of occasions at a site in Hampshire. This aberration is probably caused by a simple recessive gene. In hot summers, specimens with particularly dark upperside ground colour (see ab. suffusa below) have been known to occur with frequency on some sites, giving rise to speculation that this variation in colouration could be environmentally triggered. There are 13 named aberrations known to occur in Britain.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk
This section contains those aberrations that are considered new, and have yet to be formally defined.
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
All wings with yellowish-bone ground colour as in the same form of sylvanus.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Bright fulvous, almost unspotted (slight traces only towards the apex of the forewings), and the usual marginal border almost obsolete.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Bright fulvous, the marginal border fuscous, the spotting on both fore and hindwings faint.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
The ground colour suffused with fuscous, the fulvous being restricted to the angulated row of spots and the discal cell of the forewings, and the transverse row and discal spot of the hindwings.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Almost entirely fuscous, the spots much reduced on the forewings, almost absent on the hindwings.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
The ground colour suffused with fuscous as in ab. suffusa but the spots yellowish, even whitish, towards the apex of the forewings.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
The dark parts and markings on all wings replaced by grey or siver-grey. Albino.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
The spots on the upperside of both fore and hindwings absent. On the underside the hindwings show just a trace of the spots.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
= guernisaci Oberthür.Lep.Comp.1910.4.p.361.,fig.Etudes 20.pl.6.f.86.
On the underside the white spots are obliterated by being suffused with dark scales, only one small clear central spot remains in the centre. Tutt and Oberthür described the same specimen. The figure in Etudes shows no sign of the one small, white central spot but Oberthür mentions it in his description.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
On the underside of the hindwings the silver spots of the outer row are reduced to the three top ones with an indistinct fourth, the lower ones are obsolete.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
= faunula Oberthür.Lep.Comp.1910.4.p.361,fig.Etudes 20.pl.6.f.85.
On the underside of the hindwings the white spots are united into one large blotch so that only a pale shade remains in the centre. Tutt and Oberthür described the same specimen. Oberthür's figure shows all the white spots joined together to form a complete circle, the centre being pale brownish.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
On the underside of the hindwings the outer white spots are united into a large zigzag mark.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
On the underside the spots are yellow, almost lost in the ground colour and markedly obsolete.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
