Algarve Butterflies

[Roger C. KENDRICK]

Hi Andrew,

Good to see some stuff out of Portugal, BUT (!) would it be possible to have genus names in full for the benefit of the rest of the world,
please. If you don't have scientific names for species, please say so. If you do, then please include them; many people from the Americas,
most of Africa, Australia and Asia and probably a fair part of northern Europe probably haven't the foggiest as to what a Green Striped White
is, other than a pierid! Likewise for the moths, scientific names are of much more use if you can provide them - how many people know that a
Four Spotted Moth or a Pale Shoulder are Noctuidae? - What's a Dark Bordered Straw?? (an Helicoverpa or Heliothis sp. perhaps?). Given the
very recent plea to use scientific names by several people on Leps-l, this latest list (whilst welcome) is most irksome for its
incompleteness.

regards,

Roger.

A.P.K.Torry wrote:

> 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



--
Roger C. KENDRICK
  Demonstrator / Ph.D. Student
  Dept. of Ecology & Biodiversity, The University of Hong Kong
  mailto:kendrick at hkusua.hku.hk

mailing address:
  Kadoorie Agricultural Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong
  Lam Kam Road, Shek Kong, Yuen Long, New Territories, HONG KONG

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  (and will eventually replace the HKLG site)