Astorga-Santiago - M. athalia ... or not?

[JKT]

This is the first set of quickly edited pictures from Camino de Santiago. The subject is Melitaea and I DO wish that they are not all M. athalia (or M.a.celadusa). Unfortunately I have not been able to make any progress in telling them apart.

[JKT]

and more...

[JKT]

and the final pair.

I know this is probably hopeless, but any hit would be nice...

[traplican]

and more...

The first two frits resembles Nickerls' for me ... hirsute gingery palpi. Compare with mz Nickerls':

http://traplican.rajce.idnes.cz/Motyli_ ... 22_063.jpg

I am not sure they are aurelia but in any case they are'nt athalia.

[JKT]

I'm almost certain they are not M. aurelia (distribution seems to end mid-France), but that is still encouraging. Thanks!

[Reverdin]

In your first set of photos, does the dumbell not indicate the subspecies of diamina in that part of the world?

... and your final pair... oblique line... > parthenoides??

just a thought from a rank amateur!

[JKT]

Wish I knew what dumbell is... Anyway, that is an interesting thought - I'm used to much darker M. diaminas.

The line seems oblique in the last three, but yes, M. parthenoides would be nice. Thanks!

[Reverdin]

Sorry, I meant the marking in S1b, discally... sort of cartoon dog-bone shaped.. if you squint long enough.. ... I was thinking ssp. vernetensis or codinai, - but wait for Guy or Roger Gibbons... don't believe me

[JKT]

I understood your reference. The problem was that without knowing dumbell it was hard to say what the shape was supposed to be. IIRC the location would mean M.d.vernetensis.

Edited the typo...

[Padfield]

When I first looked at these a couple of weeks ago I thought the first one in the first set was obviously deione, but I didn't have time to look through them all and imagined someone else would come up with the same thing. I have to say, it still looks like deione to me, though no one's mentioned that yet.

The next two in that set make me think most of diamina, especially as athalia in that region is usually rather bright.

For both of the butterflies in the last set I would incline towards parthenoides. The first one looks very like parthenoides I have seen in Spain and I would go for that with some confidence (not 100%). The next is not like the parthenoides I've seen in Spain but I don't think it's deione, despite the general appearance and so reluctantly end up with parthenoides. I'm really not sure about that one.

The third one in the second set also looks like parthenoides to me. I'm not too sure of the underside pics yet, and my sister is skyping me as I type, so I'll have to come back to that!

Looking forward to some more opinions...

Guy

[JKT]

Well, well, well. This is going better than I hoped! Considering that both of the more or less certain M. parthenoides are from the same place (O' Cebreiro) as the two underside pictures, I think I can guess the most likely species... The last one looks weird, doesn't it?

And thanks again! You've definitely earned the award and then some.