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Dark Giant Grayling
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High Atlas,
Morocco, July 2005
A rare photo
of the upperside. |
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High Atlas,
Morocco, July 2005 |
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High Atlas,
Morocco, July 2005 |
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High Atlas,
Morocco, July 2005 |
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High Atlas,
Morocco, July 2005 |
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High Atlas,
Morocco, July 2005
Unbelievably,
another photo of the uppersides. |
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High Atlas,
Morocco, July 2005 |
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High Atlas,
Morocco, July 2005 |
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High Atlas,
Morocco, July 2005 |
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High Atlas,
Morocco, July 2005 |
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High Atlas,
Morocco, July 2005 |
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Stunning. This is a really smart butterfly. It is
large, immaculate and exotic. It is found only in certain mountains of
north Africa from Morocco and Algeria and, possibly recently
discredited, in Tunisia. It is similar to the Giant Grayling, B.
abdelkader, with which it is known to fly in the same location
(sympatric) in the High Atlas. Indeed, in the Middle Atlas the species
fly within a few km of each other, although we failed to find
lambessanus (affectionately, and practically, also known as "lambo")
in the Middle Atlas. We also failed to find abdelkader where we
found it in September 2001. We did find lambo in a few
localities on the Tizi-n-Test and at Oukaimeden in July 2005. We only
ever found it singly although several individuals would pass through an
area over a period of half an hour or so. Evidently the butterfly roams
over significant territories. Perhaps this is not surprising for such a
large and strong butterfly. It did have a weakness with thistles. At two
locations we found individually that would stay in the vicinity for more
than just a minute or so. The butterfly shown above with wings open
stayed at this patch of Knapweed for over half an hour. In general the
butterfly does not show its upperside. But when feeding it would flick
open its wings occasionally for about half a second. I was exceptionally
lucky to capture this moment, by chance, when taking many photos of this
particular butterfly - this is one of the advantages (and also
disadvantages) of "free" photos offered by digital photography: taking
too many photos and not concentrating the very best photo. |
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