BIRDWALKERMONDAY

Monday, 2 August 2021

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - SMALL TORTOISESHELL BUTTERFLY (Aglais urticae)

The small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) is a colourful Eurasian butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. Adults feed on nectar and may hibernate over winter; in warmer climates they may have two broods in a season. While the dorsal surface of the wings is vividly marked, the ventral surface is drab, providing camouflage. Eggs are laid on the common nettle, on which the larvae feed.

It is a medium-sized butterfly that is mainly reddish orange, with black and yellow markings on the forewings as well as a ring of blue spots around the edge of the wings. It has a wingspan ranging from 4.5 to 6.2 cm.

22-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - PURPLE TREBLE BAR MOTH (Aplocera praeformata)

Aplocera praeformata, known as the purple treble-bar, is a species of moth in the family Geometridae.

This species is present from the Iberian Peninsula and France, through Western Europe, over Central Europe, to Russia. Its northernmost range is southern Finland and the Baltic States. The subspecies Aplocera praeformata urbahni is found in Greece. In the Alps it is found to heights of up to 2,000 meters.

22-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - MEMPHIS BUTTERFLY (Memphis moruus)

Memphis, described by Jacob Hübner in 1819, is a Neotropical nymphalid butterfly genus in the subfamily Charaxinae.

There are 61 species in the genus. All are Neotropical and the undersides of the wings closely resemble dead leaves. In the past Memphis was considered a subgenus of Anaea.

Sunday, 1 August 2021

22-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - YELLOW ORANGE TIP BUTTERFLY (Ixias pyrene ssp. insignis)

A small white butterfly with obvious male and female dimorphism. The back of the body is dark brown and the belly is white. The back of the male butterfly's wings has a yellow background, and the top of the forewings is dark brown with orange stripes inside. There is a small dark brown spot at the end of the middle chamber. There is a row of dark brown spots along the outer edge of the hind wings, which expands into a broad dark brown band during high temperature periods. The background color of the ventral surface of the wings is yellow, and there are dark brown fine lines and small lines on the front half of the forewings and the wing surfaces of the hind wings. The dark brown markings on the back of the female butterfly's wings are similar to those of the male butterfly, but the other parts are white. The stripes on the ventral wings are similar to those of male butterflies, but the outer sides of the hind wings and forewings are yellowish white, and the rest of the wings are white.

22-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - FLAMINGO LEAFWING BUTTERFLY (Fountainea ryphea)

The tribe Anaeini comprises of 87 neotropical species in the genera Coenophlebia, Consul, Anaea, Polygrapha, Memphis, Siderone, Fountainea and Zaretis. The butterflies are characterised by having a very rapid and strong flight. They have stout bodies, falcate wings, and on the upper surface are generally black, marked with bands of orange, bright red, or lustrous blue according to species. The undersides of all species in the Anaeini are cryptically patterned and bear a strong resemblance to the dead leaves, tree bark or boulders on which they settle.

The genus Fountainea comprises of 8 species, most of which are widely distributed throughout the neotropical region. The hindwings of most species have short tails, in both sexes, although in the males of ryphea and sosippus these are vestigial or absent.

In some races of Fountainea ryphea the males have a beautiful purple sheen across the wings, but this can only be seen from certain angles.

This species occurs in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Trinidad, Colombia, Guyana, Surinam, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru and Bolivia.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - IBERIAN SOOTY COPPER BUTTERFLY (Lycaena bleusei)

Lycaena bleusei, the Iberian sooty copper, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae, subfamily Lycaeninae. It is found in Portugal and Spain, in Europe.

The wingspan is 28–30 mm (1.1–1.2 in). The butterfly flies from late March to November, depending on the location.

The larvae feed on Rumex acetosa, Rumex acetosella, Rumex crispus and other docks.

Populations of this species are found chiefly in central Spain and Central-northern Portugal, where the species is a specialist of meadows which tend to dry out during the summer, contrary to its sister species Lycaena tityrus

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - TIGER MOTH (Subfamily Arctiinae)

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - SOOTY COOPER BUTTERFLY (Lycaena tityrus)

Lycaena tityrus, the sooty copper, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Europe.

Subspecies

Lycaena tityrus tityrus (Poda, 1761) TL: Graz, Austria. Throughout Europe from Russia to central N. Spain.

Lycaena tityrus subalpina (Speyer, 1851) TL: Patscherkofel, Innsbruck, Austria. In the Alps at high altitudes.

Lycaena tityrus praebleusei Verity 1934 TL: Puerto de Pajares, Asturias, Spain. In NW. Iberia and W. France.

Lycaena bleusei (Oberthür, 1884) which has often been considered a subspecies of L. tityrus, has recently been confirmed as a species on its own according to genetics, wing-pattern variation, niche modelling and distribution.

The wingspan is 28–30 millimetres (1.1–1.2 in). The butterfly flies from April to October, depending on the location and subspecies (L. t. subalpina is univoltine in July).

The larvae feed on Rumex acetosa and Rumex acetosella.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - EASTERN DAPPLED WHITE BUTTERFLY (Euchloe ausonia)

Euchloe ausonia, the eastern dappled white, is a southern European and Palearctic butterfly found mostly to the south and east of its almost indistinguishable relative the western dappled white.

The wingspan is 36–48 mm. The forewings are white with black tips and a black spot. The underside is characterized by black and yellow scales, which create a greenish-white pattern. The female is generally darker. The two generations differ in pattern. The colour of the caterpillar varies from yellowish to greenish to bluish. It has obvious side stripes. The dorsal line and the dorsal side line are darker than the base colour. The segments have numerous, very small, black dots. The pupa is light brown and relatively slim.

Euchloe ausonia occurs in Europe in central and southern Italy as well as in the Balkan Peninsula including most of the larger, Greek islands. The northern border in Europe runs through southern Austria, Hungary and southern Ukraine. In the east, the presence in the south continues to Israel and Jordan and in the east to northern Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, to the north via the Caucasus up to southern Kazakhstan and across the Palearctic to Tian Shan, Altai and Tibet. The species prefers rocky slopes, rocky meadows, abandoned or neglected cultivated land, open olive groves, roadsides, mountain meadows and also forest edges up to 2000 m above sea level. In the habitat nectar plants, particularly cruciferous must be common as well as, of course, the caterpillar food plants.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - PROVENCE HAIRSTREAK BUTTERFLY (Tomares ballus)

Tomares ballus, the Provence hairstreak or cardenillo, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found on the Iberian Peninsula, northern Africa and along the Mediterranean coast of France.

T. ballus F. (75 d, e). male above dark brown, with traces of small red spots in the anal area of the hindwing. In the (larger) female the forewing red-yellow except the costal and distal margins, there being a similarly coloured ovate band-like spot before the distal margin of the hindmargin. The underside of both sexes recalls that of Chrysophanus phlaeas, but the basal area of the hindwing is dusted with verdigris. French Riviera, Spain, North Africa. — The egg green, somewhat flat, with a network of polygonals, laid singly on the upperside of leaves of Boujeania hispida. Larva rather thick, not so flat as in many other Lycaenids, the segments swollen, separated from each other by deep incisions; greenish yellow, with bluish dorsal stripe and a red-brown lateral one, there being thin oblique streaks between them; until the end of May in the pods of the food-plant. Pupa ovate, rounded everywhere, with shallow minute puncturation; as far as known the larva pupates free on the ground. The butterflies from February till April in places where the food-plant grows, often exceedingly plentiful. The specimen, when covered with the net, often drops to the ground and conceals itself in the grass. The wingspan is 28–30 mm. The butterfly flies from January to April.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - EMPEROR GUM MOTH (Opodiphthera eucalypti)

22-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - CYNOSURA 88 BUTTERFLY (Callicore cynosura)

Callicore cynosura, the BD butterfly or Cynosura eighty-eight, is a species of butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. The common name refers to the markings on the underside of the hindwings, which resemble the letters "B" and "D". It is found in Amazonia, from Colombia to Brazil, and to Peru and Bolivia.

The wingspan is about 47 mm. The upperside of the wings is black, banded with brilliant red.

The larvae feed on Sapindaceae species. They are green, with short spikes at the tip of the abdomen, and a pair of barbed spikes projecting forward from the head.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - EASTERN ORANGE TIP BUTTERFLY (Anthocharis damone)

Anthocharis damone, the eastern orange tip, is a butterfly in the subfamily Pierinae, found in southern Europe and into Asia Minor.

Description in Seitz

A. damone Boisd. from South Italy, Sicily, the southern Balcan, Asia Minor and Syria, is sexually dimorphic. The male is lemon-yellow above and below, with a narrowly black apex, large deep orange-red apical patch, which is more or less dark-edged proximally, and with a large black median spot to the forewing: the underside of the hindwing deeper yellow, with grey-greenish markings. The female is white above and on the underside of the forewing, and has a broader blackish apex to the upperside of the forewing. — pallida form. nov. is the name for the form occurring in Mesopotamia; male above somewhat paler yellow, the dark apex of the forewing is strongly mixed with red, the orange patch is less fiery, being dark-edged only in the cell, the black median spot is smaller, less prominent, the ground-colour of the hindwing beneath is lighter yellow, and the dark markings are more united to isolated patches. In the female the black median spot of the forewing is smaller on both sides and less sharply marked, the underside of the hindwing being lighter yellow.

1-8-2021 ULLAL DE BALDOVI, VALENCIA - NOMAD DRAGONFLY (FEMALE) (Sympetrum fonscolombii)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/113507-Sympetrum-fonscolombii

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - SOUTHERN BROWN ARGUS BUTTERFLY (Aricia cramera)

Aricia cramera, the southern brown argus, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is a butterfly of Southern Europe and North Africa and can be found from Morocco and Tunisia up to Spain and Portugal, on Mediterranean islands including Menorca and on the Canary Islands.

The wingspan ranges to up to 30 mm. The butterfly flies from May to September depending on the location.

The larvae feed on Erodium, Helianthemum and Geranium species.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - IBERIAN SCARCE SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY (Iphiclides feisthamelii)

Iphiclides feisthamelii, the southern scarce swallowtail, southern swallowtail or Iberian scarce swallowtail, is a butterfly found in Italy, Slovenia, southern France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of I. podalirius.

The larva feeds on Prunus amygdalus (almond), P. persica (peach), P. insititia (a kind of plum), P. longipes, Pyrus communis (common pear), Malus domesticus (apple) and Crataegus oxyacantha.

1-8-2021 LAGUNA DE SAMERUC, VALENCIA - SPECKLED WOOD BUTTERFLY (Pararge aegeria)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/52592-Pararge-aegeria

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - CATALONIAN FURRY BLUE BUTTERFLY (Polyommatus fulgens)

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - SOOTY ORANGE TIP BUTTERFLY (Zegris eupheme)

The sooty orange tip (Zegris eupheme) is a Palearctic Pieridae butterfly that has a range that extends through southern Europe, southwest Europe, northern Africa, East Kazakhstan and Asia Minor. Global warming currently seems to be extending its range to the north. The habitat consists of open flowery grasslands amongst hills.

The wingspan is 46–50 mm (1.8–2.0 in). Adults have yellow undersides and a patch of orange. They have distinctive grey-black forewing tips. Adults are on wing from mid-March to mid-June in one generation per year.

The larvae feed on Sinapis incana, Raphanus, Sisymbrium polymorphum and Camelina laxa.

In Morocco, the species is particularly associated with woad (Isatis tinctoria), and is found at mid and high elevations in the Middle and High Atlas Mountains. Larvae are often found on the same individual host plant as caterpillars of Euchloe, Pieris rapae and Pieris brassicae. Compared to these other pierines, Z. eupheme is associated with very stable environments.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - SPECKLED YELLOW BUTTERFLY (Pseudopanthera macularia)

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - GREAT BASIN FRITILLIARY BUTTERFLY (Argynnis egleis)

Speyeria egleis, commonly known as the Great Basin fritillary or egleis fritillary, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in North America, where it has been recorded from North Dakota southwest through Oregon to California and south to Colorado. The habitat consists of mountain meadows, forest openings and exposed rocky ridges.

The wingspan is 45-60 mm. The wings are bright to dull orange brown with dark markings. Adults are on wing from late June to August.

The larvae feed on the leaves of Viola species, including V. adunca, V. nuttallii, V. purpurea, and V. walteri.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - BERGERS CLOUDED YELLOW BUTTERFLY (Colias alfacariensis)

Colias alfacariensis, Berger's clouded yellow, is a butterfly of the family Pieridae. It was separated from the pale clouded yellow, C. hyale, in 1905. Berger's clouded yellow is a Palearctic species (South and Central Europe, South Russia, Russian Far East, Siberia Central Asia and temperate China also Asia Minor, Caucasus and Transcaucasia.

The wings of the male have a yellow ground colour, the females have a greenish-white ground colour, only the underside of the hind wings is yellowish. The upper wing side of both sexes has a dusted dark brown to black marginal band, which is only narrow on the hind wings. In the cell of the forewings there is a black spot on the upper and lower sides. The males have on the upperside of the hind wings in the cell an orange spot with a red border, on the underside this spot is bright and clearly outlined in red. This spot may be divided into two by the red border, so that it resembles an eight similar to Colias hyale and other yellow members of the genus Colias. In the females, the orange spot on the top of the hind wings is not bordered. The caterpillars , on the other hand, clearly differ from the caterpillars of Colias hyale after the second moult. Both caterpillars are green, however, the caterpillar of Colias alfacariensis has four eye-catching yellow lines with black dots while the caterpillar of the Colias hyale has only two thin side lines.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - APOLLOS BUTTERFLY (Genus Parnassius)

Parnassius is a genus of northern circumpolar and montane (alpine and Himalayan) butterflies usually known as Apollos or snow Apollos. They can vary in colour and form significantly based on their altitude. They also exhibit altitudinal melananism, a high-altitude adaptation. They have dark bodies and darker coloring at the base of their wings, which allows them to absorb solar energy more quickly.

Although classified under the swallowtail butterfly family, none of the Parnassius species possesses tails.

The larvae feed on species of plants belonging to the Papaveraceae and Crassulaceae families, and like the other swallowtail butterfly larvae, possess an osmeterium. Unlike most butterflies that have exposed pupae, they pupate inside a loose silken cocoon.

22-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - BUTTERFLY (Heliconius besckei)

Heliconius besckei is a neotropical borboleta of the family Nymphalidae and subfamily Heliconiinae, found in the interior of Brazil, in the central-west, in the tropical and subtropical humid Atlantic forest region of the northeast, southeast and south of the country , between Tocantins, Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais and Bahia até o Rio Grande do Sul e chegando, to its geographic distribution, até Misiones, in Argentina. In Brazil, it may receive the vernacular name of Gravata, having been classified by Édouard Ménétries, with the name of Heliconia besckei, in 1857, from type specimens originating from Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro; described in text Enumeratio corporum animalium Musei Imperialis Academiae Scientiarum Petropilitanae. Classis Insectorum, Ordo Lepidopterorum. Their lizards feed on plants of the genus Passiflora (family Passifloraceae).