British Endemic Butterflies.

[nomad]

I have heard on a number of occasions lepidopterists mention what a very poor butterfly fauna the U.K has. The number is only 58 species with another 10 or so rare immigrants that have been found here from time to time. Yes, you would have to agree that is a small number for a large Island but what the British Isles does have is quite a long list of endemic subspecies which are absent from the rest of Europe. While a few may be only now regarded as geographical races, those listed here will be important to those that like to make a comprehensive study or collection of the Palearctic European lepidoptera. Later, I will show some photographs and specimens of those British endemics I have encountered with some notes on their habits and habitat.

Papilionidae.

Papilio machaon britannicus. The most well know British subspecies that is now confined to the fens of the Norfolk Broads although it was once much more widespread.

Pieridae.

Pieris napi sabellicae ( Stephens 1828) England, Wales and Southern Scotland.

Pieris napi thomsoni ( Warren 1968 ) Western - Northern Scotland.

Pieris napi britannica ( Muller & Kautz 1939) Ireland.

Gonepteryx rhamni gravesi ( Huggins 1956 ) . Ireland.

Nymphalidae.

Argynnis aglaja scotica . Very dark in northern individuals, scotica is now considered by some to be a geographical race.

Boloria selene insularum ( Harrison 1937) Northern Scotland. Now regarded as a geographical form. Brighter than in southern examples.

Euphydryas aurinia hibernica. Ireland (Birchall 1873)

Euphydryas aurinia scotia ( Robson 1880) Scotland

Euphydryas aurinia anglicana ( Fruhstorfer 1916 )

Euphydrayas aurinia acedia ( Fruhstorfer 1916) .

Pyronia tithonus britannica ( Verity 1915 ) British Isles.

Pararge aegeria oblita ( Harrison 1949 ) North-western Scotland & the Inner Hebrides .

Pararge aegeria insula ( Howarth 1971 ) Isles of Scilly.

Erebia aethiops caledonia ( Verity 1911) Western Scotland.

Erebia aethiops. ** A very interesting unnamed race occured at Grassington in Yorkshire that was very distinctive. The males have no orange on their uppersides and the females little more than normal males. This unique colony became extinct in 1955.

Erebia epiphron mnemon ( Haworth 1812 ) English Lake District.

Erebia epiphron scotica ( Cooke 1943) Scottish mountains.

Maniola jurtina insularis ( Thompson 1968 ) England, Wales, Southern Scotland.

Maniola jurtina splendida ( White 1871 ) Northern Scotland.

Maniola jurtina iernes ( Graves 1930) County Kerry, Ireland.

Maniola jurtina cassiteridum ( Graves 1930 ) Isles of Scilly.

Melanargia galathea serena ( Verity 1913) England-Wales.

Hipparchia semele thyone ( Thompson 1944 ) Great Ormes Head - North Wales.

Hipparchia semele scota (Verity 1911 ) Northern Scotland.

Hipparchia semele atlantica ( Harrison 1946 ) Western Scotland & Inner Hebrides.

Hipparchia semele hibernica ( Howarth 1971 ) Ireland.

Hipparchia semele clarensis ( de Lattin 1952 ) The limestone of the Burren in County Clare and Galway in Ireland.

Coenonympha pamphilus rhoumensis ( Harrisin 1945) Inner Hebrides.

Coenonympha tullia polydama ( Haworth 1803) Parts of England, Wales, Ireland and South Scotland.

Coenonympha tullia scotica. ( Staudinger & Rebel 1901 ) Scotland.

Lycaenidae

Articia artaxerxes artaxerxes ( Fabricius 1793 ) Scotland. The race has large forewing white -spots.

Artica artaxerxes salmacis ( Stephens 1829 ) Northern England.

Polyommatus icarus mariscolore( Kane 1893) Ireland.

Celastrina argiolus britanna ( Verity 1919 ) British Isles.

Lycaena phlaeas hibernica ( Goodson 1948 ) Ireland.

Lycaena dispar dispar ( Haworth 1803) The fens of Eastern England ** Extinct.

Plebejus argus caernensis ( Thompson 1937 ) Great Ormes Head North Wales.

Plebejus argus cretaceus ( Tutt 1909 ) Chalk downland of Eastern England ** Extinct.

Plebejus argus masseyi ( Tutt 1909 ) Wet mosses of the Southern Lake District ** Extinct.

Maculinea arion eutyphron ( Furhstorfer 1915) England ** Extinct. Swedish race introduced with some success.

Hesperiidae.

Erynnis tages baynesi (Huggins 1956 ) The limestone of the Burren district in Western Ireland.

I wonder if anyone has all of those, at least one U.K collector may have historical specimens of all these subspecies. Interesting that the distinguished Italian lepidopterist Ruggero Verity ( 1844-1926 ) named a number of British endemics. As taxonomists always disagree with subspecies there would be sure to be those elsewhere in Europe which may doubt the validity of some of those in this check list.

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Here are some of those you mentioned Peter from my collection, and I might add that although our native butterflies are not spectacular compared to other countries they still give me the most satisfaction and remember more has been written about British butterflies than any other country on earth e epiphron Irton Fell Lake district, p machaon brittannicus Filby Broad Pieris napi, Ireland.

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c tullia meathrop moss England, p napi and  Euphydryas aurinia Irish ssp

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m arion  extinct, Cornwall 1910.

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Attachment Deletedcarterocephalus palaemon, extinct English ssp, p napi Ireland

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extinct c palaemon and m arion, c tullia ssp polydama.

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Attachment Deletedmaniola jurtina, Robert Adkin Scilly Isles 1899. p machaon brittannicus Filby Broad Norfolk

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A artaxerces Lammamuir Deans Scotland

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l sinapis Ireland, h semele ex L W Newman, Sligo Ireland 1905. P icarus Ireland 1930's

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Attachment Deleted Hipparchia Semele and Plebejus argus, Great Ormes Head Wales.

[nomad]

That's some British collection you have dunc. Nice to see you have a selection of them

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Attachment DeletedAttachment Deletedm jurtina outer Hebrides ab Scotland, e aethiops Lake District England, c tullia Dumfries, Scotland.

[nomad]

Dec 23, 2014 10:30:50 GMT radusho said:

these are all described ssp. from Britain but more than 50% of them are only synonymes. In every country you will find a ton of such taxons which represent only local variations...

Well, this may be true of a few of the British subspecies I have mentioned, but this geographical variation - form - subspecies is most interesting for those that study European Lepidoptera. Unlike a number of the smaller European counties Britain contains many smaller islands that are not land locked which has given rises to populations of butterflies and moths that have been isolated for thousands of years, such as those in the Isles of Scilly, Ireland, Inner Hebrides etc. The mainland of Britain being a large Island has been thus separated from the continent of Europe for at least 10,000 years thus giving rise to a number of highly separated populations of butterflies and moths. 

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Attachment Deletedl dispar dispar, p napi Ireland and Orkneys.

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[nomad]

P.S dunc. Please can you add the names and locality to your specimen  images for the other members here -thanks