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Hello,

Can somebody help me get these butterflies identified ? Pictures were taken in Switzerland - Val D'Herens - Early July.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.


Thanks a lot !

Wim

Wim

As no one else has had a go, I'll try.

1, Female Mazerine?
2, Common Blue
3, Common Blue?
4, Female Mazerine or Little Blue
5, A Copper, possibly Sooty?
6, Mazerine Blue?
7, Turquoise Blue
8, Osiris Blue

I am by no means an expert, but it might start the ball rolling.
Denise

I was leaving this for Guy, but I 'll respond to some of your suggestions, Denise. I incline to Small Blue for the first. 4 & 5 both Sooty Copper (the race subalpinus). 7 is one of the Lysandra blues (chequered fringes). No 11 looks to me like Alcon or Mountain Alcon blue, and possibly no 10 as well, though I've never seen one with a blue streak along the costa.

Misha

Sorry folks - I've been disconnected for a few days because someone somewhere forgot to update the nameservers on my domain...

The first picture shows Cupido - the position of the spots on the hindwing is in principle decisive against Cyaniris, although I'm not absolutely certain I can see all the relevant spots. I'll post a diagnostic picture for that when I'm certain my domain is back online everywhere (I got back to CH 20 minutes ago and have only just managed to update the nameservers). Given that it's Cupido, osiris is the obvious thought, as it is on the foodplant. Osiris persists into July at altitude, more rarely nearer valley level. From this view I can't distinguish osiris and minimus females, and size is a poor guide.

2 and 3 are probably common blue, though the presence of sainfoin in so many pictures means Chapman's blue is a possibility. The submarginal black markings strongly suggest common, not Chapman's.

4 looks most like geranium argus, Eumedonia eumedon. The prominent dark mark at the end of the cell is an indicator and sainfoin frequently grows in the same areas as Geranium sylvaticum, the normal foodplant of the geranium argus. It's surprisingly fresh for a July insect but this is a late year. Male sooty copper normally shows more spotting on the upperside, even in the very dark races, but I couldn't rule this out - Misha might be right.

5 is definitely sooty copper.

6 semiargus

7 Lysandra sp. - I wouldn't like to say which .

8 Cupido sp. - little or Osiris.

9 This one is surprisingly hard. Perhaps I'm just tired after the journey! The dark veins seem to cross the fringe but it's not Lysandra. I'm tempted to suggest escheri, though I might retract that later.

10 This one is also difficult. I would suggest amandus, which flies in the Val d'Herrens and which has had a very good year.

11 I agree with Misha - mountain alcon blue (Maculinea rebeli).

12 Cyaniris semiargus

13 Definitely female Plebejus - argus or idas. The last time I visited the Val d'Herrens I saw argus, so for that reason alone I'll plump for that species!

Must unpack my things now!!

Guy

9 is surely one of the Brown Argus sp. You were tired Guy. I went for Sooty Copper for 4 mainly because of the sllght bulge at the tornus of the hindwing, like the underside at 5.

Misha

You're right with 9, Misha!! Yes - I'd been up since 4.30, travelling and gently sipping beer.

It's undoubtedly Aricia, but which one is problematic even for the local experts. Both artaxerxes and agestis officially fly in the region and in many cases it is impossible to tell which is which - that's not my verdict but that of the man responsible for mapping Swiss butterflies, who regularly takes specimens of difficult species for genitalia analysis. In my records, I've seen both species in the Val d'Herrens, but there is some doubt about the agestis.

Guy

Mikhail wrote:I went for Sooty Copper for 4 mainly because of the sllght bulge at the tornus of the hindwing, like the underside at 5.

I knew that's where you were coming from, and you might be right, but it doesn't seem conclusive to me on this view - the fold of the wing could cause the effect, and geranium argus does have a certain squaring there in some pictures (though in most of mine it's very round). Male subalpinus usually has a similar effect on the forewing too, making the trailing corner of that wing look very square. Matt has some good subalpinus here:

http://www.eurobutterflies.com/species_ ... ityrus.htm

Against geranium argus, and for sooty copper, would be the cell spot, if that is what it is, that appears to be just visible on the forewing of butterfly 4. If that really is a cell spot, I'm obviously wrong.

Guy

Thanks a lot for the discussion here !

Much appreciated.

Wim