Request for information on aberration of Issoria lathonia

[britishleps]

I have recently come into possession of an aberration of the Queen of Spain Fritillary (Issoria lathonia). The specimen and its accompanying label are shown below, together what I believe to be a typical specimen (top).

Queen of Spain Fritillary ab. nova by John Duncan, on Flickr

There was an additional label pinned inside the specimen box with the words “ab nova”, but I’m unsure whether this is accurate, as I have been unable to find any further information on the Internet.

If any member knows where I could find a list of aberrations (preferably with images to aid identification), that would be very helpful. Many thanks.

[Deleted]

Try Clive Pratt's website British butterfly abberations.

[trehopr1]

That is indeed a very striking aberration you have there. Wow !

[britishleps]

Dec 6, 2018 14:25:16 GMT @unitedman said:

Try Clive Pratt's website British butterfly abberations.

Yes, he certainly has a great site, and thanks for pointing that out. Unfortunately, Issoria lathonia is practically the only species he hasn’t put up, which is a shame. I also checked out the Natural History Museum website (which is usually a good source of info and images) in the hoping of finding some lathonia abs, but alas none. In any case, thanks for the info and I’ll keep looking.

[Deleted]

There have been, and still are many many lathonia fakes out there that can have no claim to have ever set foot on British soil and all examples out there must be treated with suspicion as with the plethora of other "genuine" British rarities out there doing the rounds at the moment for the sole aim of making money, I think that there are so few genuine QOSF that very little attention is actually given to it even though it is on the British list, add to that the many man made fake abberations of lathonia and others for sale and it becomes impossible to give them all names.

[nomad]

I believe what unitedman means by fake abs, are those that are made by cold shock etc. Interestingly I see the breeder R.E.L Stockley experimented with cold shock, see this box at the A.E.S. Has Stockley's cold shock Issoria lathonia abs, these  are certainly not British specimens. I see your ab is from Karl Bailey. I have never heard of him, but in this box are some of his bred or cold shock abs of Euphydryas aurinia and Melitaea cinxia. 

[nomad]

I also agree there is a lot of fraudulent British specimen being sold with changed labels added. I have seen and spotted obvious fake British specimens being sold at the AES on my last two visits there. They still sell like hotcakes. This dubious practice commenced early in the 19th Century continues today unfortunately.

[Deleted]

Yes Peter and I'll wager I know the vendor, he didn't attend the Midlands show, lots of complaints about him and his so called British rarities, I think people are on to him now, about time too. Later I'll post some pictures of genuine British historic specimens.

[nomad]

They would be nice to see. From a scout on the web and my books, I see that Karl Bailey experimented with both breeding and cold shock, this is mentioned in Variation of British butterflies by A.S. Harmer, see page 26. .

[britishleps]

Thanks to those who have replied, and I agree we need to be careful of fake specimens and fake data.

Regarding Karl Bailey (full initials K.E.J. Bailey), I am now not surprised he is mentioned in A.S. Harmer’s book. Having done some digging of my own, I stumbled upon this document, which suggests that Mr Bailey was known to both A.D.A. Russwurm and A.S. Harmer - around page 194 there is an obituary for Alexander Donald Abbot Russwurm (1904 - 2001) where Karl Bailey’s name is mentioned. The obituary was written by Alec S. Harmer.

As I am not sure about copyright restrictions, I won’t quote chapter and verse here, but there was obviously a connection between all these individuals. There are five mentions of Bailey in total - two are contained in the obituary. While the entire document is a fascinating read, the quickest way to find the Bailey references is to use the search facility in your browser.

[nomad]

It is okay to quote pieces from another author's work, as long as you credit him.     

[bobw]

Karl Bailey was a friend of mine although I've not heard from him for a few years.  He did a huge amount of work on temperature shocks and developed it to a fine art, producing some spectacular specimens, mainly of Nymphalidae.  I gave him quite a bit of livestock on which to experiment.

I'm certain that he never tried to pass off any of his temperature experiments as natural aberrations.

[trehopr1]

So, it seems to me that the only verifiable way of discerning if a British aberrant is an honest and true wild occurring item is to know if the collector has any background history of breeding or temp. experiments. If he does than it would be safe to presume anything with his name on it is likely not naturally occurring (for the most part). This is not to say that the collector was fraudulent or dis-honest (he just experimented out of interest); and later things were sold off. However, when those things are again sold or re-sold yet again then that is where history (or data) gets changed or becomes "murky" by unscrupulous sellers.

Of coarse, there is still the possibility that some past collectors did truly collect some natural aberrations AND they are still known to have experimented with breeding / temp experiments. That is where things could be complex because unless the person was still living (to ask him about provenance); you could never be certain.

Is this fair to say or am I missing something? Just trying to get my thoughts around this topic...

[nomad]

Dec 8, 2018 16:43:27 GMT bobw said:

Karl Bailey was a friend of mine although I've not heard from him for a few years.  He did a huge amount of work on temperature shocks and developed it to a fine art, producing some spectacular specimens, mainly of Nymphalidae.  I gave him quite a bit of livestock on which to experiment.

I'm certain that he never tried to pass off any of his temperature experiments as natural aberrations.

I would say then that the Issoria lathonia ab shown here is not naturally occurring or a bred ab but cold shock and that due to its excessive rarity as an immigrant to Britain, the stock he used was certainly continental.

[nomad]

Many wild caught or occasionally bred black abs of what we called the Fritillaries went for what was then huge prices in the auction room. Many of these have very good provenance and are safely stored away in the BMNH and the like or in several large private collections. Thankfully people's fridges cannot produce a huge array of other aberrations that include albinos. Many private collections might have had one or two black abs and the collector would been very proud of them, if he was a  lucky collector such as the great Russell Castle or the Reverend Marcon he might have caught them himself,  now you can have several drawers full labelled someone's Mr ----- fridge or in the case of one European dealer Mr so and so's needles. Would I buy a black ab as British today from a certain dealer, labelled as old wild caught British, not on your nelly.