Algarve Butterflies

[A.P.K.Torry]

Hello all,

After a very enjoyable trip I have returned to a rain-sodden Cornwall.

I think Cornwall gets all of Portugal's rainfall - Sheesh I thought  Spain
was dry!

Anyway here a few observations made by a MAD DOG/ENGLISHMAN out in the
noon-day sun.

Butterflies
--------------

Nymphalidae
------------------

NONE				-	WHY?

Satyrinae
-------------
Southern GateKeeper		-	Common everywhere, with males
 					outnumbering the females by at least 10:1
Spanish GateKeeper		-	Not as common as above but M:F - 10:1
	(P bathseba)
Speckled Wood		-	Common. Females particularly brightly coloured.
	(P aegeria)
Large Wall			-	1 large and bright female.
Wall 				-	Common everywhere.
Meadow Brown (M jurtina)	-	Not as common as I would have expected.
Small Heath (C pamphilus)	-	Common. Larger and brighter than in the UK.
					One specimen had a set of metallic scales on 					the underside f/w
just below the apical ocelli.

Lycaenidae
----------------
Blue Spot Hairstreak (S spini)-	Abundant on the 'Rocha da Pena' nature
reserve.
Brown Argus (A agestis)	-	Common and sometimes unusually large.
Common Blue (P icarus)	-	Common but very small specimens. (Sometimes
					smaller than above)
Small Copper(L phlaeas)	-	Very darkly suffused forewing - One specimen has
					virtually no 'copper' at all on the forewing.

Cacyreus marshallii		-	The dreaded 'Geranium Bronze'. Yep you guessed
					it the things were everywhere, I counted at least 10
					at one time on the geranium rich flower bed
					just outside the apartment.

Papilionidae
-----------------
Swallowtail (P machaon)	-	Infrequent but they turned up now and again.
Scarce Swallowtail		-	2 on the 'Serra de Monchique - Mt. FOIAI' 976m ASL.
	(I podalarius)

Pieridae
-----------
Moroccan Orange Tip		-	As above.
Green Striped White		-	Infrequent. 2 confirmed sightings over the
					entire fortnight!
					Maybe	too late in the season.
Bath White (P daplidice)	-	Infrequent. 2 confirmed. (As above)
Small White			-	Everwhere.

Hesperiidae
-----------------

Mallow Skipper (C althae)	-	Common but maybe 'False Mallow Skipper' since
					some specimens are smaller than others.
Rosy Grizzled Skipper	-	Local.
Lulworth Skipper (T acteaon)	-	Everywhere but never in large numbers.
					About 1/3rd of them were f. olivacea

Moths
--------
Four Spotted Moth		-	Infrequent. Nice to obtain a couple of examples.
Pale Shoulder			-	Common very hard to seperate from the above in
					flight.
Crimson Speckled Moth	-	WOW! What a beautiful creature.
Dark bordered Straw		-	Disturbed from dense grass.
Black Mountain Moth ????	-	Serra de Monchique - Mt. FOIAI 976m ASL
					Will publish a piccy of this one on my website for
					all you fellow leps to identify for me.
Red Mountain Moth??????	-	Rocha da Pena (Limestone Plateau).
					Will publish a piccy for you to identify as above.


Andrew