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Scolitantides orion

Chequered Blue

Field Notes

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Var, France, May 2005

 

Var, France, May 2005

 

Valais, Switzerland, May 2006

 

Valais, Switzerland, May 2006

 

Valais, Switzerland, May 2006

 

Valais, Switzerland, May 2006

 

Valais, Switzerland, May 2006

 

Valais, Switzerland, May 2006

 

Pyrénées Orientales, France, May 2006

 

Pyrénées Orientales, France, May 2006

 

Pyrénées Orientales, France, May 2006

 

Var, France, May 2005

 

Valais, Switzerland, April 2005

 

Macedonia, Greece, May 2004

 

Macedonia, Greece, May 2004

 

Valais, Switzerland, May 2004

 

Valais, Switzerland, May 2003

 

Valais, Switzerland, May 2003

 

Valais, Switzerland, May 2003

 

Valais, Switzerland, May 2003

 

Valais, Switzerland, May 2003

 

Valais, Switzerland, May 2003

 

Valais, Switzerland, May 2003

 


One of those butterflies I always wanted to find, my chance came early in my butterflying career when we found them in northern Greece on mine and my father's first trip together to look specifically for butterflies. We found them in several places - in one they were flying together with the Common Glider, Neptis sappho in a beautiful place since destroyed by road development and another on mount Olympus at the roadside where huge 3m high Mulleins were growing.

Since then we've found them in NE Italy and most commonly of all in May in Switzerland. At this site in Valais there must have been hundreds across the hillside. Switzerland appears to be a special case in that the species is supposedly double brooded. I returned later in the year to my Swiss site but failed to find anything but dried up grass. Perhaps 2003 was such an early year that larval food plant desiccation prohibited a second brood? I'm sure it will survive for the 2004 season, but in what numbers?

 

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