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Post by nomad on Jan 18, 2015 10:07:29 GMT
The successful reintroduction of a butterfly to an area or country where it has become extinct is highly commendable, especially if that species disappeared through changes to its habitat. So it was a major coupe that U.K. lepidopterists and a host of other people managed to reintroduce the Large Blue-Maculinea arion in localities in England where it had been lost. A team began by studying the special requirements of the Large Blue and its host, the Ant- Myrmica sabuleti in Europe. It was found that the Maculinea arion larvae needed very short grass as they initially fed on Wild Thyme (Thymus polytrichus), a short growing herb which can only thrive in this habitat. The host red ants of Maculinea arion also cannot tolerate shady long rough pasture. The reintroduction programme started in 1983 with Swedish stock of M. arion arion (Linnaeus 1758). The Large Blues were released in specially selected sites that were made favourable to suit the special needs of this butterfly. These colonies have continued to thrive in spite of a few setbacks. For a recent account of the amazing life history of the Large Blue, see the ' The Butterflies of Britain and Ireland' by Jeremy Thomas - 2010. The reintroduced Swedish race of Maculinea arion. 1 & 2. Freshly emerged male-Gloucestershire ( 2014) 3 & 4. Females, including one egg laying on Wild Thyme-Somerset (2012) For many years those that tried to rear the larvae of M. arion on Wild Thyme, noticed that after the fourth instar they then refused to feed and began to wander and die. The discovery of what happened next is as exciting as any great detective mystery and it took a lepidopterist Sherlock Holmes (F.W. Frohawk) and Doctor Watson ( Dr Chapman) to unravel the mystery. Captain Bagwell Purefoy was then able to solve the final puzzle by successfully reaching the Large Blue for the first time with artificial ant nests placed in Walnut shells. F.W. Frohawk story of his, Dr T. A. Chapman and Bagwell Purefoy's discovery accompanied by perhaps his most famous illustrations can be found in his classic Natural History of British Butterflies published in 1924. The mystery finally solved. A passing M. sabuleti ant begins to milk the larva of M. arion from a special gland. The larvae mimics an ant grub. The ant then picks up the larvae and takes it into its nest. The larva lives alongside the red ants, but its hosts are unaware their special guest has turned into a meat eater, devouring their own grubs . The famous drawing by F.W. Frohawk showing the larva being carried to the ant's nest. Although it is a very special experience to visit these reintroduced colonies of Maculinea arion and see this very beautiful butterfly. The fact does remain that many of these sites historically had their own British subspecies eutyphron ( Fruhstorfer 1915). eutyphron had several very important geographical races. For instance, those Maculinea arion that occured in the Gloucestershire Cotswold Limestone hills were distinct from those found in the coastal parts of Devon and Cornwall. There were two reasons why the British subspecies of Maculinea arion became extinct. One was the ploughing of its habitat for agricultural use, the other and perhaps the main reason was the introduction of the deadly myomatosis which killed 95 per cent of our rabbit population. This meant that the habitat changed rapidly, the grass grew too long and scrub invaded and the sites became too cool for host ants and as they went, so did the butterfly. One by one the colonies were lost and by 1979 it was too late to save the last remaining population on Dartmoor in Devon. Even at this time the Large Blue's special requirements and its dependence on one species of ant were not fully understood. There cannot be any doubt, that there was heavy collecting pressure on some of the populations of Maculinea arion in Britain. Only in one instance at Barnwell Wold in Northamptonshire was over-collecting by Victorian collectors and dealers possibly responsible for the demise of the small colony . However, the majority of specimens were taken by collectors during a time when the populations at the bigger sites were stable and the butterfly was able to cope with such losses. Two avid collectors are said to have caught between 500- 600 specimens of M. arion in a single season in North Cornwall and another had 900 specimens when his cabinet was sold at Auction (Aurelian Legacy M. Salmon 2000 ). Most agree however, that habitat change and not collectors were responsible for its final extinction. In the forthcoming article in this thread that will follow, I propose to write about the English subspecies M. arion eutyphron. I will examine some of the geographical races and lesser known historical accounts, which will be accompanied by some new images of rarely seen museum specimens and others from a large private collection. Some of the specimens of Maculinea arion from different localities held in the Oxford Museum University's British collections were taken in calibrated conditions, using a special light box to help show their special characteristics better. Among the British Butterflies, Maculinea arion together with the extinct Lycaena dispar dispar has long held a strange and lasting fascination for me.
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Post by nomad on Jan 19, 2015 18:42:44 GMT
The British subspecies of Maculinea arion eutyphron was described briefly by the German entomologist Hans Fruhstorfer surprisingly during the First World War in 1915. He wrote " Males as rule relatively small and pale, the forewings at the most four weak spots. The female only slightly darker-bordered than the male - type Cornwall, England, a series in the Ch Blachier's collection. According to Oberthur, the race from Brittany is identical to it ". Fruhstorfer had probably not seen the extent of the geographical variation within the different localities of England. However, by 1915, several of those populations had already become extinct. E.B. Ford wrote the following account of M. arion in his seminal 1945 work ' Butterflies ' that was published in the New Naturalist Series, writes " On the Cotswolds it appears in June or even in late May, and is of a darker iron-blue shade. The species emerges a little later in Cornwall where the specimens are of a clearer brighter blue, while the spots on the upperside are rather larger, though they may be less numerous than in the Cotswold examples . The extinct race from Barnwell Wold in Northants ... more really resembles the Cotswold insect. Ancient specimens from the Langport district of Somerset, where the species is also presumably extinct, are similarly of the darker shade blue, but they are remarkable for the larger size of their spots, either on the upper or underside of the wings or both. Those from the Salcombe district of South Devon on the whole resemble the Cornish form, though some of the specimens are of a rather duller tint. It is clear that in England there is a tendency for the Large Blue to be of a brighter colour in the peninsula of Devon and Cornwall".
Specimens of Maculinea arion eutyphron. Image one. Birdlip near Gloucester, Cotswold Hills June 1898. Specimen 1. female recto ( W.G. Pogson-Smith). Specimens 2 & 3 female verso - (Arthur Sidgewick June 1898 ). Image two. Millook near Bude Cornwall. 1. male July 1910 . 2 & 3 female recto & verso . July 1911 - (All B.G. Adams leg). Oxford Unversity Museum of Natural History Collections. In the Cotswold populations, where many of the colonies were certainly darker in appearance, than those in Devon and Cornwall, there occurred a very rare dark aberration. In 1908 Le Chamberlain named these dark almost melanic specimens ab Cotswoldensis and gave the following description in the ' Entomologist " Male and female sprinkled with black scales giving it a dusky or melanic appearance, close to the alpine var obscura of Professor Christ ( 1878) scarce. " Goodson and Read (1969) elevated this dark aberration to subspecific rank on account that there definition clearly provides a contrast between the specimens from the Cotswolds and those found in Devon and Cornwall. The subspecies cotswoldensis is not usually recognised by other taxonomists. Unfortunately by the time Goodson & Read had elevated cotswoldensis to subspecific rank, M. arion had by then become extinct in the Cotswolds during the early 1960s. Most of the Cotswold Gloucestershire colonies of M. arion were found on steep limestone banks and in the rough grounds of old quarries. They occurred in a number of suitable sites between the city of Gloucester and the old Roman Town of Cirencester. In Cornwall in south-western England, M. arion was found along the North Coast of Cornwall, the colonies being centered around the village of Bude and they extended further northwards into Devon. Those North Cornwall coastal colonies were much larger than those in the Cotswolds and in good seasons they held several thousand adults. Perhaps, because of their abundance, several extreme aberrations were taken here. There was also a few smaller populations in central Devon on Dartmoor and along a short section of the south coast of that county. There are a few historical accounts of the Large Blue in Britain and most of these are reproduced in the Aurelian Legacy by M.A. Salmon ( 2000) and the Aurelian Fireside Companion by M.A. Salmon & Peter J Edwards (2005) Those articles were selected from the various British Entomological Journals and I certainly do not want to reproduce them all here. There is however, a most revealing and informative article by Champion Le Chamberlain ( what an impressive name) who was mentioned earlier, that was published in the journal ' Entomologist ' for 1908, entitled Lycaena arion i n the Cotswolds. In his account Chamberlain named several major M. arion aberrations that he had himself collected in these limestone hills including his very striking melanic cotswoldensis Chamberlain wrote " As the result of exploration during the last two years I have been able to discover the existence of this fine species in a number of out of the way spots in the Cotswold Hills, which have never been recorded in any book or periodical. Its existence in some, however, is very insecure from the extremely circumscribed extent of the area which certain of the stations embrace. In some of which have been recorded in the past, it is now probably extinct. One such consists of the deserted quarries on the north-east side of Painswick Hill, although it is found sparingly in one or two other places not far away. It is here, however, much harassed by the Gloucester collectors, so that its final extirpation takes place in the neighbourhood of Painswick. In the vicinity of Cheltenham it is also persecuted by tyros ( beginners). Some of the other stations discovered by me are situated on private ground, and there is some reason to believe that several more may be added to the list in the more remote " combes " well off the beaten track. In only one of these it occurs in some abundance according to my experience. As a consequence of the considerable number of specimens, I was able to define the follow aberrations of this species in the Cotswolds, for which I propose the following names".
Among the aberrations that Chamberlain found in the Cotswolds and mentioned in his article are "Ab pseudo-alcon. Aberration of the male with the wings on the upper surface, unspotted and formely erroneously considered to be the true alcon of continental Europe. Rare "ab pseudo-alcon Chamberlain 1908 = ab alconides Aurivillus 1888. " Ab imperialis. Aberration of the female. An exceedingly fine form, generally of a brilliant blue, with the black spots on the upper surface of the anterior of the wings, elongated into pearl-shaped streaks. Not uncommon here. This is of frequent occurrence in the south of France. "
" Ab marginata. Aberration of the male and female with the wings possessing broad black margins. Not Uncommon ".Most of Chamberlain names for his infraspecific aberrations, still stand today. Specimens images of some of his named aberrations can be found together on the Rothschild-Cockanye-Kettlewell website. I must admit that after reading Chamberlains's short account of M. arion in the Cotswolds, I am most impressed by this sensible local collector from Cheltenham. Even in 1908, he showed a real concern that the local colonies that occurred in the more accessible places of the Cotswolds were being over collected. I know this lovely part of the Cotswolds well. I can easily picture Mr Chamberlain on a bright June day, in a sheltered combe searching for M. arion with his net among the anthills. Perhaps in the evening he was examining the patches of longer herbage for any communally resting Large blues and I imagine the thrill and his excitement as he found a new splendid aberration of M. arion for the first time and boxed his prize, later adding it to his collection.
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Post by nomad on Jan 20, 2015 18:19:32 GMT
I am pleased to see that some of you liked the rather lengthy posts in this thread. I have written about the British M. arion before but wanted to hopefully write a much better article, presenting new information and specimens. Although in Britain, sadly we have extinct butterflies, we do have valuable historical records and specimens of them. There were two other interesting documented populations of Maculinea arion that occured on the Limestone. One was a famous colony of M. arion that was found at Barnwell Wold in the Northamptonshire Midlands . Another much lesser known colony of M. arion was situated on the hills above Langport in Somerset. Later, I will give a brief account of the history of M. arion in those two localities together with further calibrated images of historic specimens; these were taken recently in the Hope Department of Entomology at Oxford. Some of you may have been surprised at the mention in the article of Maculinea arion being over collected in some of its Cotswold stations. The collector who gave us this interesting insight of M. arion certainly seems to have known those collecting grounds very well. Those further details taken from the Aurliean Legacy by M.A Salmon ( who has a historical British butterfly collection) of the excess of some of our fellow bretheren of the net, cannot also just be ignored. It has however, been agreed by most experts, that habitat change was the only major reason that we lost subspecies eutyphron. The web and the book the Aurliean Legacy have been a mine of information, so thorough has Mr Salmon's historical research been, it has been very hard to find new information that has not been accessed by the author and his fellow workers. As for searching the web, you cannot just type in a reference and always find those details that you want, usually there is much thought provoking searching to obtain that information which you are looking for . Then if you are lucky enough to find an article there is sometimes no general access. You have to be aware of the those free downloads of articles that may contain more than a pdf file. If you are not careful, you soon might be using some European spyware that has hijacked your search engine. Then there are all the books to consult, the museum to visit, the specimens and data to examine ( by far the best part ).
When I see a name and a locality on any of the data labels of the historical specimen I am studying, such as those in this thread, I always want to know more, such as, was the collector well known, what he did, where he collected the specimen. Infact, I confess in this regard, I am a data label addict. I firmly believe if collectors of the past contributed to the future generations knowledge of entomology by his bequest of specimens or his written articles in journals, he should be given full credit . One of the collectors referred to in this thread, with the grand name of Champion Le Chamberlain seems to be only known for his ' Lycaena arion in the Cotswold ' article published in the Entomologist . I cannot find any further information about this collector at this present time. ( I have a feeling that coming from Cheltenham, which has some of the most famous horse racing in the world, such as the Gold Cup, he was named by his parents Champion in a fit of fancy after a lucky win or even after the famous winners of that trophy). I was hoping to find some reference to his other collecting activities. I wonder if he would be surprised, that someone in the future, would be writing about him in connection with his written account of Large Blue and its aberrations. Especially as he seems to under the radar, so to speak.
Does anybody here with a European collection, have any of the Alpine Maculinea arion ab obscura, if so, please can you show them here. I have good reason to believe that this ab and cotswoldensis named by Chamberlain are very similar. The continental ab obscura is a high altitude butterfly that occurs in the Alps at several thousand meters, the Costwolds Hill habitat for M. arion was at the most a mere 235 meters.
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Post by nomad on Jan 25, 2015 13:32:05 GMT
In 1837, the year that Queen Victoria ascended the throne, a thirteen year old boy awoke to a hot sultry summer's July day. He had his prepared breakfast and quickly packed his bag and added his special black pill boxes and his killing bottle. He took his favourite net and leaving the stone cottage of a lovely rural village, where he was staying with relatives, he strode off in high spirits across the fields to the woods where he had been told the king of butterflies - the Purple Emperor ( Apatura iris ) had his throne. He reached the woods where inside it was even hotter, it was already approaching midday and he was thrilled to see several male Purple Emperor's flying above the old Oaks, now and then meeting and in territorial battles, chasing each other high into the sky ; then returning to settle on their favourite bough at the top of the Oak. None descended, so he busied himself filling his boxes with other good things such as the large Fritillaries A. paphia. He found it was hard to catch the fritillaries feeding upon the bramble, his net got snagged, so he chased them down the rides and found a group of Marsh Thistles, where they were busy nectaring and were easy to catch. The wood was damp here and there was plenty of Sallow, he already knew that this was the foodplant of the Purple Emperor, his father was a good and kind teacher, being a very well know amateur naturalist and he also had a good library. Further on in the centre of the wood, there was a large clearing and here he took A. adippe, they were, he found quite abundant and again the thistles were there nectar source and he netted a good number. He came to the southern end of the wood and noticed it had become drier and beyond he saw a pasture with anthills. At the woodland margin, he noticed a large white butterfly flying around Blackthorn bushes, he caught it. He was very pleased, it was his first Black-veined White ( Aporia crataegi). He chased several others, but missed them. It was time to sit down and have his lunch and drink. Sitting there, the boy could not have known, that this was the halcyon days of butterfly collecting and that one day the Black-veined White that he had in his box would be come extinct in his then Great Britain. However, that's is another story of a time in a much lesser exciting place in the distant future. As he finished his food, he noticed a dark dusky blue butterfly flying slowly among the anthills, up he shot and followed the butterfly, it was covering a good amount of ground in its unhurried flight and then it was his. He had never seen anything quite like it before while he was out collecting. He was certain though that this was the butterfly pointed out to him by his father in one of his books, which was very rare and only known from two small colonies. He was thrilled, he took the butterfly from his jar and popped it into his pillbox. It must be rare here too he thought, he only saw one other ( Being early July, he had not realized they were just beginning to emerge). In high spirts he returned across the field, waving to the farm labourers busy with their hard work and singing his favourite hymns . He knew he would have a busy evening ahead perhaps if he was allowed later by candlelight setting the contents of his full boxes. He was due to return in a couple of days to his own village, but he would return the the following year. He just knew that when he showed his papa, he was going to be very pleased and surprised. The young boy was William Bree ( 1822-1917) and he had discovered the famous Large Blue colony at Barnwell Wold in Northamptonshire. The village he had left all those years ago was Polebrook and later William Bree would become the curate then Rector of its All Saints Church. His father was the well know naturalist, The Reverend William Thomes Bree ( 1786-1863), who had the parish of Allesley in Warwickshire. William Bree the younger gave the following fascinating account of the Large Blue at Barnwell Wold in an article published in the Zoologist for ' 1852 ' Here is an extract " The greatest prize of all the butterflies of the neighbourhood of Polebrook, I hold to be Lyceana arion, which, if I am not mistaken, was discovered here by myself, thirteen or fourteen years hence. It is confined entirely, as far as my experience goes to Barnwell Wold. Indendently of its manner of flight and size, it is in most instances distinguished on the wing from the other blues by its dark and irony appearance. Many entomologists have, of late years, visited Barnwell Wold, in search of Arion; in short, a summer never passes without meeting in one of my rambles brother entomologists from different parts of the country. I rejoice however, to be able to state that its annual occurrence does appear to be diminished in consequence. Unless my memory fails me, I think Mr Wolley, of Trinity College Cambridge, informed me in one year he captured between fifty and sixty specimens in and about Barnwell Wold., though in point of the weather, the days were anything but favourable ". A pair of Maculinea arion from the J.C. Dale collection from Barnwell Wold. O.U.M.N.H. There seems to have been considerable confusion, by authors as regarding the account of the Large Blue at Barnwell Wold. It is usually attributed to W.T. Bree, the father, even Michael Salmon made this mistake in the Aurelian Legacy (2000). Young Bree did return to collect the large Blue at Barnwell in 1838 and 1839, but it was not until 1840 that his more famous father captured it here. ( J.O Westwood: British Butterflies & their transformations -1841) In 1852, the well known field collector the Reverend F.O. Morris ( 1810-1893) , author of the History of British Butterflies ( 1853) came to stay at Polebrook with William Bree and collect the Large Blue. The year before in 1851 another very well know collector Frederick Bond ( 1811-1889) was on the wold collecting M. arion and perhaps he met William Bree there. He gave us his account and his specimens survive. here is a extract " I have again this season taken this beautiful insect in plenty, at Barnwell Wold capturing forty nine specimens ; it is very local insect, for although I have searched the wold very well, I have only found it in one spot, the corner of a rough pasture under a wood ; it is a easy insect to take, flying very low, and it is very conspicuous, settling occasionally on wild thyme". Specimens of M. arion that were collected by F. Bond in 1851. Wigsthorpe probably refers to Barnwell Wold, the hamlet being close by. Private Collection. Even though William Bree asserted that no harm was being done to the M. arion populations by collectors who were coming to Barnwell Wold in increasing numbers to hunt the Large Blue. The writing was on the wall for the blue here.. While the population was stable Bree was probably correct and the butterfly was able to sustain those losses, however during 1859, there was a wet summer and fewer insects emerged. Surprisingly the following year, the butterfly had recovered somewhat, but again the summer was very wet and then its fortunes changed when a collector/dealer came and took 200 specimens in the evening while they were at rest ( Jeremy Thomas 2010), that was the end. In the following year no more M. arion were seen on the wold. William Bree had replaced his father as the vicar of Allesley in 1863. What William thought of the extinction of his favourite butterfly at his beloved wold, we can only guess. This is not the end of the story, in 2006 at a lock up garage in Coventry, six large leather cases in the form of books, containing the William Bree collection were found almost intact. The butterflies are remarkably all well preserved, so someone during that time must have cared for them. They are now in the collection of a Mr Mike Mead-Briggs. I have sent him an email, I can only hope that the Bree collection, contains the M. arion that Bree collected at Barnwell Wold in those far off summer days. Hopefully he will reply. This over collecting at Barnwell Wold is well documented and has gleefully been picked up by those that like to suggest that collectors were responsible for the demise of some or many of the British Butterflies that are extinct or rarities today. However, those that cite Barnwell Wold as a prime example of unscrupulous collectors fail to give you the full story. If they had bothered to do any research they would have known that the Large Blue at Barnwell Wold was doomed anyway just like the rest of the M. arion colonies, that have disappeared through habitat change. As a young Boy, the naturalist-author Denys Watkins Pitchford who wrote under the pseudonym of " BB" read and reread F.O Morris account of Collecting The Large Blue and Purple Emperor with William Bree at Barnwell Wold . Reading Morris's account in his very popular butterfly book filled Deny's with enthusiasm . He wrote " I cycled all the way from my home in Lamport in Northants fully expecting to see the Large Blue and the Emperor. In those days, around the 1920s, Barnwell Wold had not yet gone under the plough. One summer afternoon I saw and pursued both High Brown ( A. adippe) and Dark Green Fritillaries ( A.aglaja) and found Silver-washed Fritillaries ( A. paphia) in the woods, but the last Large Blues had vanished half a century before and the wild thyme had gone too, along with the anthills. As for the emperor, that had gone as well. The Ancient oaks have long since gone and there is very little sallow and the habitat is now unsuitable". After further ploughing and habitat change all the Large Fritillaries would disappear from Barnwell. Once Barnwell Wold held more Brtish rarities than any other locality including the extinct English race of C. palaemon and all the hairstreaks including a strong population of Satyrium pruni. Sadly, today they are all gone. A plate of Maculinea arion from the Rev F.O. Morris's History of the British Butterflies ( 1853). The author painted them from his specimens that he had captured at Barnwell Wold.. Peter.
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Post by nomad on Feb 1, 2015 12:22:21 GMT
On a June day many years ago in 1834, the squire of Glanvilles Wootton in Dorset, James Dale had his horse made ready, he added his packed saddle bags and rode out of the grounds of his impressive manor house. He had a thirty mile journey along the muddy rough roads of the dairy farmland of Blackmoor Vale in Dorset to the village of Langport in Somerset. Langport was situated in the low lying land by the River Parrett. He would be staying at the home of William Quekett, who was the master of the grammer school at Langport. He had, one must presume earlier, received a letter from John Quekett who was studying medicine at the London University Hospital of a special butterfly discovery. William had installed a love of Natural History in his younger sons Edwin and John and both were keen butterfly collectors. In the previous year John Quekett had discovered a colony of Maculinea arion on the limestone hills to the north of his village where he had captured it in plenty. In 1840, few colonies of this rare butterfly were then known and the discovery in Somerset was enough to bring the celebrated entomologist ' Dale' here. Many years later in 1871, Edward Newman would add the following from the late John Ouekett. . According to Michael Salmon in the Aurelian Legacy (2000) index, it was Edwin not John Quekett who sent the following account to Edward Newman which was published in his impressive work 'An illustrated natural history of British butterflies'. In fact it was John Quekett who wrote " I took about forty specimens on the 15th June 1833, in a situation abounding with long grass and brambles at Langport near Taunton ; and on the same day in 1834, I took twenty specimens, and Mr Dale ten." Newman added " subsequently Mr Quekett visited the same locality on several occasions and always with the same success ". Although Quekett mentions long grass and brambles there must have been a mosaic of short grass with thyme for the butterfly and the host ants to survive, probably higher up the hill. Two females in the Dale collection from Langport in Somerset that were collected on the 15th June 1834. O.U.M.N.H collections. A few years after discovering the colony at Aller Hill above Langport, where he had spent the summer's day collecting with Dale, according to F.O Morris, John Quekett may had more luck in finding Maculinea arion. Morris wrote that John Quekett had found it in profusion on the limestone Polden Hills near Glastonbury ( F.O Morris- A History of our British Butterflies -1853 ) However, it now seems highly probable that Morris was actually referring to the Aller Hill locality which is sometimes included within the Polden Hills. John Quekket seems to have made no mentioned of capturing M. arion than any other locality than that of Aller. A watercolour of Aller Hill where the Queketts and James Charles Dale collected the now extinct British M. arion eutyphron together in the 19th century. John Thomas Quekett ( 1815-1861) the youngest of the Ouekett brothers, was the entomologist of the family. He became a famous and distinguished microscopist and histologist. Later in his life he became the professor of the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London. John Quekett died young when he was only 46 years old at Pangbourne in Berkshire. As has been mentioned before E.B. Ford who had access to the Dale M. arion ssp eutyphron specimens at the Oxford Museum, mentioned that the colony at Langport were intermediate between those occurring on the Cotswold Hills and those on the coasts of North Devon and Cornwall. Ford also drew attention to the large forewing eye-spots on both the upper and underside surfaces. I would add that Dale's surviving M. arion specimens from Langport are particularly large and fine. Two of James Dale specimens of Maculinea arion eutyphron showing the undersides, that he collected on the 15th June 1834 at Aller Hill near Langport in Somerset. O.U.M.N.H. collections. The colony at Langport = Aller was thought to have died out by 1843. According to J.A. Thomas ( 1989 ) in M.A. Emmet's and J. Heath's 'The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain Vol 7', it was rediscovered near Langport in 1945 but disappeared during the 1950s. Today, the strongest colonies of the reintroduced Swedish Large Blue occur on the Somerset Polden Hills. The Somerset Heritage Centre at Taunton holds historical British county collections. I will be going there in February to study those collections. John Quekett's collection was lost, after it was found neglected at his brother Edward's Hanging Chapel museum in Langport . I had originally planned a visit to the Taunton collection because of an usual form of Plebejus argus that Dale collected on the limestone at Aller. I shall certainly will have the opportunity to have a good look for any surviving Quekett's specimens or any historical M.arion eutyphron from the lost Somerset population.
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Post by arionash on Feb 2, 2015 12:31:19 GMT
I enjoyed reading this informative article and seeing such stunning historical specimens.
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Post by nomad on Feb 2, 2015 12:46:10 GMT
Welcome to the forum arionash.
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Post by wollastoni on Feb 2, 2015 13:09:47 GMT
Indeed great article ! Thanks a lot Peter for taking the time to write it and share it with us
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Post by nomad on Feb 15, 2015 9:11:32 GMT
Maculinea arion f. obscura of the European Alps. In this Maculinea arion eutyphron thread , I have referred to a rare dark infraspecific aberration ' cotswoldensis' ( Le Chamberlain 1908) that once occurred in the populations of the Cotswold Hills in England. The dark Cotswold M. arion has also been referred to as ab obscura ( Christ 1870). The true Maculinea arion form obscura flies at much higher elevations in the Central Alps, with its distribution being centred on Switzerland where it is protected. Recently, I was able to view a long series of specimens of obscura and in general this form is of a darker deeper brown than the ab cotswoldensis ( see above for images of specimens) of the extinct British Insect. I am fully aware that others now wish to place Maculinea within the genus Phengaris, but I am afraid with some English lepidopterists, old habitats die hard . Specimens of M. arion f. obscura from different localities in Switzerland and Northern Italy.
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Post by wollastoni on Feb 15, 2015 11:42:46 GMT
Thank you nomad for these interesting obscura specimens. As some locality are not that far from Milan, I will try and find some next summer.
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Post by nomad on Feb 15, 2015 12:09:56 GMT
obscura is a very striking arion form and I wish you every success if you go to look for it Olivier. I only wish this butterfly occurred near me, I be up there like a shot, perhaps one day I shall go to look for it.
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Post by nomad on Feb 15, 2015 12:22:03 GMT
I just noticed, that one of the obscura data labels has the locality St Martin Vesubie in the Alps Maritimes. So obscura occurs in France at least in the south-eastern part of that country.
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Post by nomad on Jan 8, 2018 14:18:18 GMT
It now appears that "genuine" examples of the dark M. arion eutyphron ab cotswoldensis Le Chamberlain 1908 are very rare in collections. There are none among the many examples at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and among at least 700 examples of M. arion eutyphron in the British Museum of Natural History perhaps one possibly two. So here is a specimen of ab cotswoldensis from Bristol Museum collections!
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Post by nomad on Jan 9, 2018 12:48:38 GMT
The Oldest Extant specimens of the British Maculinea arion eutyphron.
The oldest extant Maculinea arion eutyphron Fruhstorfer, 1915 specimens with any locality data in a British museum appear to be collected by James Charles Dale between 1834-1842 at Langport in Somerset. There is a specimen labelled Langport, Ex collection Thomas Ingall who died c1860 in the British Museum of Natural History that may have been collected by him or perhaps exchanged with J.C. Dale. Ingall was active in the 1830s/1840s and other specimens of M. arion in his collection with no data held by the BMNH are probably also from Langport. In the BMNH there are two other M. arion specimens without data, Ex coll James Francis Stephens (1792-1852). Specimens of M. arion in the collections from Barnwell Wold, Northamptonshire were probably collected circa 1840s -1850s. William Bree discovered the locality in 1837, he and Frederick Bond collected many specimens from that locality. There is no mention in Dale's diaries that he went to Barnwell Wold and those specimens in his collection were probably exchanged with another entomologist. In his diaries Dale recorded that he collected a specimen of M. arion in poor condition at Mouse's pasture at Bromham, three miles from Bedford on July 14, 1819. This specimen is not in his collection. The Bedfordshire locality for M. arion was discovered by Reverend Charles Abbot (1761-1817) in 1798. J.C. Dale bought Abbot's butterfly collection that would have contained further M. arion specimens from Bromham. Abbot's specimens may have been in poor condition and there are no specimens collected by him in the Dale collection. In the John Curtis' collection held by the Victoria Museum in Melbourne Australia, there may be specimens of M. arion that may precede those in the J.C. Dale collection by some margin. John Curtis (1791– 1862) was one of Britain's finest entomologists and insect illustrators. His great work was his British entomology : being illustrations and descriptions of the genera of insects found in Great Britain and Ireland: containing coloured figures from nature of the most rare and beautiful species, and in many instances of the plants upon which they are found was published in eight volumes between 1823-1840. Portrait of John Curtis. In the Curtis collection there are nine specimens of M. arion, six males and three females in perfect condition; a number of these could be the oldest known extant series specimens of M. arion eutyphron in existence. Edward Newman in his Illustrated Natural History of British Butterflies (1871), stated from information provided by J.C. Dale. " Formerly taken on the hills near Winchester by Griesbach when a boy at School there ; some were in Mr Curtis' collection." Curtis writing in his British Entomology in 1824, recorded that " Mr Griesbach told him that arion was abundant near Winchester many years since". This would probably place any M. arion specimens from Griesbach in the Curtis collection as being collected in the late 18th century. J.C. Dale was a good friend of Curtis and one of the patrons of his British Entomology. J.C. Dale recorded in his diary that on June 22, 1842 John Curtis collected three specimens of M. arion at Sheep's Slait, a field on the Aller Hills near Langport when they visited that locality with one of the Paul brothers. Curtis gave the following account in his journal of collecting M. arion near Langport with Dale " Aller, 3 a pair, 1 bad one from 11-12 am. Paul took 1 and Dale 1. It was windy and they kept in the lower corner of the field, they fly above just the tops of the grass. When the sun is out they are not difficult to catch but because of their grey undersides when the sun is obscured by a cloud, the eye does not perceive them and they soon alight in the grass with their wings closed when it is exceedingly difficult to detect them ".
Many distinguished 19th century entomologists placed no data on their specimens and unfortunately Curtis following this tradition, so it is impossible to tell for certain, which of his specimens in his collection were collected on the Aller Hills and which specimens were captured by Griesbach at Winchester. At least one M. arion specimen labelled Griesbach, Winchester that is set on an old British pin was held within a private British collection and looked to be a genuine example. Griesbach's first name was never mentioned by Dale, Curtis or Newman and as there were at least three British entomologists's operating at that time with his surname. However, a strong contender would be the Reverend A.W. Griesbach who became the rector of Whitwell in Yorkshire. James Francis Stephens in his 12 volumes of his Illustrations of British Entomology (1828-1846) recorded that Reverend A.W. Griesbach had previously taken insect specimens at Winchester and I believe is the most likely source of the M. arion specimens. Below. A specimen of M. arion caught by Griesbach at Winchester in an old private collection with other British rarities including a very pale example of a male Polyommatus coridon and a fine and extremely rare mixed gynandromorph of that species. (fourth row from left, bottom). Curtis' journal held by the Victoria Museum is written in his very small neat handwriting and this is not always easy to decipher. He gives us further information on the Large Blue distribution in Britain. Some of these localities mentioned by Curtis from the 18th century were copied from Papilios of Great Britain (1795) by William Lewin and by the time he was writing the butterfly may have no longer occurred there. Curtis records that M. arion had been found on commons and pastures in the following localities. At Mouse's Pasture near Bedford in 1819 by James Charles Dale. At the Signal House on Dover cliffs and other parts of Kent. Among brambles, rocky situations, West Wales. Near Winchester. The Marlborough Downs. Hills near Bath. Clifton Bucks in July. Oundle, Northants by Mr Bond. Bucks A. Haworth. I believe the Dover and Kentish localities recorded by Curtis are perhaps erroneous, unless it became extinct at Dover in the 18th century because it was not recorded there in the 19th century. Robert Le Plastrier (1776-1846) was a collector at Dover who had a detailed knowledge of the district, stated to the Rev. William Thomas Bree (1786-1863) in 1832, (his son was William Bree who later discovered M. arion at Barnwold Wold) that he had never heard of M. arion being taken there and thought the record of the species was an error. In his Journal, Curtis provided further information on the occurrence of M. arion. Henry Doubleday Wigsthorpe, Northamptonshire (1 specimen was taken by Doubleday between June 3rd & 20th June 1841. *Newman 1869) : F. Bond Barnwell Wold, Northamptonshire, 16 specimens on 6th July (1842?) and 49 there in July 1844 : Monk's Wood, Huntingdonshire in a single grassy pasture, 33 specimens on 4th July and 9 faded specimens there on 15th July (collectors name omitted). William Bree Barnwell Wold near Oundle. What is interesting about Curtis' account is that it mentions the little known Monk's Wood locality and that it was also very local there, confined as at Barnwell Wold to a single pasture near woodland. Another interesting factor to consider is the number of specimens being taken. I would like to thank Simon of the Melbourne Museum Discovery Center, Museums Victoria for his help in providing the specimen images and a copy of Curtis' Journal entry for M arion and Peter Marriott for photographing specimens of M. arion in the Curtis collection. Thank you to forum member Beatie for providing images of the Griesbach specimen held in a private collection. Below. M. arion specimens in the John Curtis collection housed in the Victoria Museum, Melbourne. In the second image, the last specimen but one, a female with broad black marginal wing bands is ab. marginata Chamberlain 1908. Copyright and photo credit Peter Marriott, Victoria Museum. Below. Female specimens in the J.C. Dale collection from the Aller Hills, Langport, Somerset. Dale coll. OUMNH. Below. Specimen from Barnwell Wold, Northamptonshire. William Bree. Ex Frederick William Hope coll. OUMNH. Below. Specimens from Barnwell Wold. A strange miniature female top and a male bottom. Dale coll. OUMNH. *The specimens images taken by me at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History OUMNH remain their copyright.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Jan 9, 2018 13:34:05 GMT
Yet another epic contribution to the historical knowledge of British butterflies. Thank you very much for posting this for everyone to enjoy.
Adam.
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