Pyrgus ID help required Part 2 - French Alps 2017

[David M]

Here are two more pyrgus from the French Alps that I have been struggling with.

This first one is probably the specimen that caused me the most grief. It has large, chunky upperside spots with a diffused upper hindwing. The underside is different too - with a black-edged border to the 'anvil' which reminds me of onopordi.

Again, it was seen on the forest track at about 1,000m:

The next one is, I'm pretty confident, a female Safflower Skipper, but the hindwing markings are much fainter than I am used to:

[Roger Gibbons]

I would agree onopordi and carthami. It's rather high for onopordi, but it ticks the boxes and it's hard to see what else it could be.

I've just spent a couple of days at the zig-zag track at 1000m (sorry to be obscure but David knows where I mean and I'm avoiding any definitive location information) and bellieri was the most common Pyrgus there. I'm rapidly coming to the opinion that the Lewington illustration of female bellieri is rather wide of the mark.

Roger (still in the Mercantour)

[David M]

Many thanks for your assistance again, Roger. Like you, I am finding the pyrgus genus ever more fascinating. They're also exceptionally easy to coax into my examination vial (and are often reluctant to come out)!

I too noticed the bellieri emergence. There were, I think, one or two about during the first week, but by the second they comprised 75% of all the pyrgus seen on the track.