May 2009 Sightings

[sahikmet]

Hi,

Today at home two male orange tips

Cheers

Sezar

[bugmadmark]

I had the opportunity to visit the Cambridge University Botanic Gardens today (on business) and knowing my interest in butterflies and insects, the Superintendant showed me some of the efforts being made to get the right balance of grasses and wild flowering plants around the site. It looked really beautiful but as the weather has been so cold and wet I only saw 1 large white. Newly emerged Orange Tip larvae were pointed out to me on the Garlic Mustard. I hope to spend a few of my lunch hours wandering around here if the weather ever gets better! Off to Brownsea island for a few days and hope to see something of interest there - possibly small coppers and frits - but not sure. The camera and gear are coming with me just in case!

[Pete Eeles]

A week or so ago I had a Green-veined White ovipositing on some Garlic Mustard in the garden. I've been keeping an eye on the eggs, and today they hatched

Canon 30D, Sigma 105mm lens with extension tubes. ISO 200, f16, 0.5s, tripod.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Shirley Roulston]

Incredible, fantastic photo Pete.

Shirley.

[Susie]

Blimey, that is an amazing shot!

[Dave McCormick]

Wow Pete, great shot. I could not even get this close when I tried to get a shot of a tiny caterpillar before. Wow they look strange when newly hatched!

[Pete Eeles]

Thanks all - very time-consuming getting this shot though. 15 minutes to set up and another 10 to get the settings right!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Pete Eeles]

Hi,

Today at home two male orange tips

Cheers

Sezar

Hi Sezar - the reduced dot on the forewings possibly qualifies this as an aberrration (antiquincunx):

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-cur ... xonID=8759

On a related subject - an amazing bilateral gynadromorph here:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=141516

Cheers,

- Pete

[Mikhail]

Extraordinary! Did you notice that in the right hand photo he/she is apparently trying to oviposit?

Misha

[Padfield]

Quite amazing! I think this is really super rare. When I first posted my fake orange tip bilateral gynandromorph, on 1st April 2008 (see January photo comp, 'photoshop'), I was contacted by a researcher who was very excited by it and wanted to use the picture, thinking it was real. I'll pass him this link. Extraordinary.

Guy

[sahikmet]

Hi Sezar - the reduced dot on the forewings possibly qualifies this as an aberrration (antiquincunx):

Thanks Pete I did not realise it.

Cheers

Sezar

[Matsukaze]

Apparently there is another example of a bilateral gynandromorph Orange-tip in the Bristol Museum.

[Pete Eeles]

And in the Cockayne database:

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-cur ... xonID=8735

Cheers,

- Pete

[sahikmet]

Hi all,

I did not realise the difference in the orange tips untill I put two different pictures side by side. These were taken on two different days and in Raw state resized only with no other alteration to be able to put it to the webside. I thought it would be intersting. All your comments will be very wellcome.

Cheers

Sezar

[Pete Eeles]

As already mentioned, I think the first is ab. antiquincunx and the second is a regular OT! If you could email me the high-res image of the first (and you're happy to contribute it), I'd love to include it on the main species pages! Thx!

Cheers,

- Pete

[geniculata]

spent the afternoon in wooton coppice,
found 4 pearl bordered fritillarys, a couple of brimstones, a green viened white, several speckled wood and a painted lady.

gary.

[Jack Harrison]

I have uploaded a resume of my sightings for the first half of May (and indeed Mach & April) on my website:

http://www.snapperjack.co.uk

It should be obvious how to see the relevant photos. Don’t forget that larger images can be accessed by clicking on a small photo. Also included are some scenic views taken in 2009

Photos – including butterflies – from earlier years (some dating from the 1950s!) can be seen via the main snapperjack page.

Jack

[FISHiEE]

Great set of pics there Jack and good to see the captive bred female had a happy ending

Skimmed over some of the old pics from the 1950's which were very interesting too

[bugmadmark]

[/quote]

On a related subject - an amazing bilateral gynadromorph here:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=141516

Cheers,

- Pete[/quote]

Hi

The genetics of bilateral gynadromorphs are fascinating. Just googled to find out more about it in insects and came across this link with some very striking examples in a Swallowtail and others. http://www.daltonstate.edu/galeps/Gynandromorphs.htmI wonder if the OT shown in Petes link above which is half male half female and ovipositing results in fertile eggs? Not sure - but very interesting. I'm going back to the Cambridge Univ Zoology musesum to see their insect type collection soon so I will ask the curator if he has any of these in the collection. M

[Dave McCormick]

It rained bad all morning until about 2pm then got warm and sunny. So I put my boots on and went out to see what was around. I went less than a mile from my house

Saw one Small Tortoiseshell:


Quite a few Green veined whites (over 10), here is a female (is it just me, or are the spots bigger than normal?):


Went into a forest nearby:




Had my Canon 18-55mm lens on taking photos of the forest, then saw a movement just in the corner of my eye, a male speckled wood! Had to quickly change the lens to the Sigma 105mm, but I got a shot, not realising I was on closeup mode and not right mode, so its not the best shot (I crawled along on my belly to get this shot!):


I found two of these moths too, first one I could not photograph, but this one was quite willing. Anyone know what it is? (I have a lot of photos of these from last year that I never ID'd)