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.
Description to be completed.
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)
The ground colour of the upperside of the wings paler, greyish-brown.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Described as a subspecies from County Clare, Ireland but is not constant and quite scarce. Most of the known specimens were collected by L.A.E. Sabine, a semi-dealer, no doubt because they were pale. We [Goodson & Read] have a series of semele collected in County Clare, which are the more or less normal limestone form, just a shade paler than normal semele, certainly not as pale as De Lattin’s form. It is therefore merely a local aberration and demoted to this rank by Cockayne in 1954. The description says it differs from other Irish examples by its very divergent males. The ground colour relatively light with a quite apparent incline to grey instead of the normal rather pronounced brown. The most apparent characteristic is the great reduction of the androconial patch of the forewing, being confined to a few remains in the region of the lower cell border so that at first it appears that the patch is entirely lacking.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Male and female upperside. The band on the margin of both wings much-deepened in colour, the greyish pattern towards the base paler than usual though still clear and sharp. Ground colour of the rest of the wings in both sexes ranges from pale buff to cream white. Types from Failand, Somerset. This would seem to be an extreme form of ab. clarensis De Lattin.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Female. On the upperside the markings are rich orange-fulvous.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Female. The transverse band on the upperside of the hindwing is pale straw-coloured.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Male. The transverse band on the upperside of the hindwing not showing, making it unicolorous.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Female. The transverse band on the upperside of the hindwing divided into two colours by a narrow diffused line of brown, the inner part whitish-yellow, the outer part reddish-fulvous. Described as an aberration in the subspecies scota Verity but could no doubt occur in other races.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
The upperside of the forewing with a large fulvous patch in the basal half.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
= splendens Brouwer.Weer en Wind.1942.4.p.161.
A male of the dark heath form, which becomes more beautiful when the light bronze-yellow (not reddish, but yellow) on the forewing and hindwing has extended more than in normal specimens. Lempke says that ab. jubaris is not a subspecies. The bands on the upperside are broad and uninterrupted, Tijdschr.Ent.100.p.449.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Upperside of forewing strongly darkened because the yellow-brown band below the upper of the two eyespots is broadly interrupted and the usually pale longitudinal patches are dusted with black scales. The figure shows the lower part of the band of the female, i.e. the cells above and below the lower eyespot, dusted over. The yellow cell, in which the apical eyespot is situated, is not dusted.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Stauder’s description is of little use; it merely says the darker, more sombre mountain form from Southern Calabria [Southern Italy]. Lempke uses the name tentatively for a very dark form of the female with black-brown ground colour of the upperside with strongly reduced light markings. The fulvous band on the forewing is broadly interrupted and that on the hindwing only consists of the wedge-shaped marginal spots. He figures the form on pl.15.f.9 and says that this dark form obviously may be produced in widely separated countries. This aberration described by Lempke is probably nothing to do with Stauder’s form but since Stauder’s description is useless we are following Lempke [Goodson & Read].
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Female showing on the upperside of the hindwing a row of little white lines situated in the brownish-yellow spots before the outer margin.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Extra black spots on the upperside of the forewing. Other authors have since named the various combinations originally covered by this.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
An extra black spot on the upperside of forewing in cell 3.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Three ocelli on the upperside of the forewing. By the name this is taken as meaning three spots, not necessarily pupilled with white. Tutt says, “ocelli” but unfortunately names it “punct” meaning spots or points. If the form has white pupilled ocelli it would be the same as ab. triocellata Ragusa and sink as a synonym.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Three ocellated spots on the upperside of the forewing, not merely spots but each one containing a white pupil.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
On the upperside of the forewing two extra spots, one between the two normal ones and the other below them. Lempke does not say if these are pupilled with white or not.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
On the forewing the lower eyespot is reduced to a mere point, or has completely disappeared.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
On the upperside of the wings the eyespots are strikingly smaller but pupilled.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
With strikingly enlarged eyespots. Mostly female but also occurs in the male.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Female with the ocelli of the forewing reduced to only half their normal size, appearing as little black points.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Female showing on the upperside of the forewing no trace of ocelli and on the hindwing only the white pupil of the ocellus at the anal angle, the normal black surround being absent. On the underside of the forewing the apical eyespot is represented by a white point with no black surrounding ring, the lower eyespot being absent altogether. On the hindwing underside there is no trace of the spot at the anal angle.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
No eyes or ocelli showing on either upper or underside.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
The apical spots of the forewings blind. Tutt only mentions males but the form is not uncommon in the females.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
On the upperside of the hindwing the ocellus or spot at the anal angle is absent.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Vein (media) 2 split into an elliptical mark on both wings.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Very small, not exceeding 40mm.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
Underside of the forewing with two clear white points between the two normal eyespots, parallel with the outer margin.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
On the underside of the hindwing all the veins are white-grey to white, over the whole of the wing. The description is taken from Lempke, the war years of Iris not being available [Goodson & Read].
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
= mellaertsi Derenne.Lamb.1926.26.p.82.
Underside of hindwing uniform, transversely speckled, without any trace of a band. Derenne’s mellaertsi had the underside of hindwing with no pattern, the whole wing being similar to the basal area.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
On the underside of the hindwing the extracellular area, which is usually white, is washed with buff-yellow.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
The ground colour of the underside of the hindwing brownish.
Natural History Museum
britishbutterflyaberrations.co.uk (all aberrations)
