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Post by luehdorfia on Jun 28, 2018 23:28:32 GMT
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Post by Maksim khorunov on Jun 29, 2018 0:02:29 GMT
Lycaena dispar from England Most likely, the butterfly is simply bred in England from the pupa acquired at the exhibition. The doll itself could be brought to England from any other country. |
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Post by bobw on Jun 29, 2018 6:25:35 GMT
These specimens are ssp. batavus. This subspecies was introduced to Wood Walton fen from Holland back into the 1920s. It survived there for many years with careful management of the fen and the occasional reintroduction from captive-bred stock after severe flooding. I believe that management of the fen was stopped a few years ago and sadly the colony died out. Many years ago, some livestock of this race found its way into the hands of breeders and many people maintain them in captivity to this day so there are quite a lot available on the market. Interestingly, although the original captive stock must have come from only a few individuals there are no signs of weakening through inbreeding, I once kept them going for about 10 consecutive years and they still seemed vigorous at the end of this. The only noticeable difference is that wild dispar (indeed nearly all coppers) are notoriously difficult to get to pair in captivity, whereas theses Wood Walton dispar pair up very easily!
There is nothing quite so spectacular as a cageful of these all sitting on leaves with their wings open on a sunny day.
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Post by luehdorfia on Jun 29, 2018 13:16:04 GMT
These specimens are ssp. batavus. This subspecies was introduced to Wood Walton fen from Holland back into the 1920s. It survived there for many years with careful management of the fen and the occasional reintroduction from captive-bred stock after severe flooding. I believe that management of the fen was stopped a few years ago and sadly the colony died out. Many years ago, some livestock of this race found its way into the hands of breeders and many people maintain them in captivity to this day so there are quite a lot available on the market. Interestingly, although the original captive stock must have come from only a few individuals there are no signs of weakening through inbreeding, I once kept them going for about 10 consecutive years and they still seemed vigorous at the end of this. The only noticeable difference is that wild dispar (indeed nearly all coppers) are notoriously difficult to get to pair in captivity, whereas theses Wood Walton dispar pair up very easily! There is nothing quite so spectacular as a cageful of these all sitting on leaves with their wings open on a sunny day. Thanks a lot for this detailed answer. Makes a lot of sense! And very interesting that they would pair up easily in captivity. I would love to raise livestock of dispar one day, freshly emerged a few dozen ones, it must be mesmerising. But at the moment I still have to travel to much for work and cannot take care of livestock.
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Post by nomad on Jun 29, 2018 13:28:30 GMT
You have to see ssp batavus in those Dutch Fens to appreciate its sunning beauty, something I will never forget. It is often forgotten that in its native haunts, it is a scarce butterfly and fully protected. The size of those individuals in the wild matches the old Brit dispar for size and both subspecies are very close. The batavus breeding stock is becoming inbred, often producing very small specimens, especially when the larvae are fed in a tupperware box on common dock. One of those strange situations where a rare wild butterfly is bred in large numbers resulting in very low prices, unless you fancy a genuine pair of old Woodwalton Brit ones. See Worldwide Butterflies for details on those.
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Post by bobw on Jun 29, 2018 14:16:14 GMT
Peter
Indeed, the captive Wood Walton stock must be inbred as it has been in captivity for many generations, but it still seems to be vigorous and 1st brood specimens can be huge, I've had females the size of meadow browns! They have to be reared on growing plants, preferably Great Water Dock as the don't do as well on ordinary dock and it's best to try to avoid a second generation as they are tiny and it's very difficult to get the progeny to hibernate before all the dock leaves have died.
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Post by nomad on Jun 29, 2018 15:29:50 GMT
It must have been the second captive generation specimens I saw at the AES, they were indeed miniature. Only a single brood in the wild.
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Post by bobw on Jun 29, 2018 18:13:10 GMT
Certainly it is best to try to keep them single-brooded. The second brood is a pain in the a**e but difficult to avoid in captivity. You have to try to make sure the first brood doesn't emerge before mid-july.
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