Aberrations in central Lincolnshire

[petesmith]

The number of butterfly aberrations recorded this year in central Lincolnshire has been unprecedented, and has included: multiple examples of Comma and Silver-washed Fritillary, some quite extreme; bilateral gynandromorphs of SW Frit and Brimstone; rare and superb examples of Meadow Brown and Red Admiral, and a stunning pathological Peacock aberration. You can view some of these on the Lincs BC branch sightings page at https://butterfly-conservation.org/in-y ... -sightings.

Yesterday I found another rather special example, a female Brown Argus ab.glomerata + postico-obsoleta, not a common sighting and quite stunning!

[David M]

That is indeed a rare one, Pete. Do you think the sharp change from hot and sunny conditions to cool and wet ones has played a role in the generation of these abs?

[petesmith]

That is indeed a rare one, Pete. Do you think the sharp change from hot and sunny conditions to cool and wet ones has played a role in the generation of these abs?

Yes, I suspect the unsettled and changeable climate this summer has played a large part in the appearance of so many aberrations - it has been a remarkable season here, and is still ongoing! There may be more to come...

[David M]

I took a look at the link you provided, Pete, and there are some real stunners in there, with the gynandromorph Silver Washed Fritillary being the pick of a very enviable bunch.

[Trev Sawyer]

...and what about that Peacock?... Whoaaahhh!

[petesmith]

Yes that Peacock was amazing! As was the Red Admiral. Got another weird Peacock today - a pathological ab. with unilateral scale defect? Looked rather strikingly different!

[Stevieb]

You can view some of these on the Lincs BC branch sightings page at https://butterfly-conservation.org/in-y ... -sightings.

That Red Admiral ab. klemensiewiczi is gorgeous.

[petesmith]

You can view some of these on the Lincs BC branch sightings page at https://butterfly-conservation.org/in-y ... -sightings.

That Red Admiral ab. klemensiewiczi is gorgeous.

Steve I completely agree- sensational! I am gutted that this is one of the abs that I didn't personally manage to see

[bugboy]

I don't want to be the one to rain on everyone's parade but my instant gut feeling when I saw that peacock ab was that's not natural. It strikes me as a similar effect as water damage on a butterflies wing. Obviously I wasn't there and only have a single image to go from but it looks to me like it's been damaged in someway by some sort of liquid and with the amount of unauthorised releases abounding these days, it's only a short step for someone to 'fiddle' with captive bred butterflies to create 'new' abs. I'm not accusing anyone but if I saw that I would be instantly suspicious of unscrupulous shenanigans going on

[petesmith]

You may be right bugboy. A fellow Lincolnshire lepidopterist made similar comments. I also at first thought it was damaged. Looked like it has an area of scale loss. But when viewed from different angles the colour on the affected area changed, from white through varying shades of light and mid blue, suggesting to me refraction, which presumably would require some wing scales of some shape or form. This change in colour isn't apparent in the photos. If it has been artificially created by dubious means, then it has been done without causing any other wing damage, which would presumably be very difficult to achieve! We may never know...