Melitaea athalia in the Dale Collection OUMNH.
Jan 6, 2018 13:11:30 GMT
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Post by nomad on Jan 6, 2018 13:11:30 GMT
Melitaea athalia in the Dale Collection at the Oxford University of Natural History OUMNH.
The Heath Fritillary, Melitaea athalia is an endangered and a protected butterfly in Britain. It is now confined to a few colonies in Kent, Essex (where it has been reintroduced) west Somerset (Exmoor) and Cornwall. Once more widespread, M. athalia declined through the lack of coppicing in woodlands. It was formerly found in Staffordshire in the West Midlands of England, where it became extinct in the 19th century. Edward Newman in The Natural History of British Butterflies (1871) recorded Burnt Wood, Staffordshire (J.B. Hodgkinson) and abundant in a wood in South Staffordshire (J. Hardy). In the Dale collection housed in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History OUMNH there are a few 19th century specimens from Staffordshire and among them an aberration with yellow markings on the hindwings.
Below. M. athalia from Staffordshire. 1. Typical. 2. Aberration. Dale coll. OUMNH.
Melitaea athalia ab. tesselata Stephens 1828.
M. athalia was first recorded as a British species by James Petiver (c. 1665 – 1718) the London apothecary in 1699. Petiver the father of British entomology found the butterfly he called the May Fritillary in Cain (Caen) Wood at Hampstead in Middlesex. He reported that it was common there together with a variety that he believed to be a separate species "Paplio Fritillaria tesselata serontina subtus straminea", the Straw May Fritillary. It is interesting that Petiver recorded taking tesselata in early May, today M. athalia is rarely seen before June.
Petiver figured both athalia and tesselata in Papiliones Brianniae, plate 3 (1717). John Francis Stephens in his Illustrations of British Entomology, vol 1. (1828) regarded tesselata as a distinct and lost British species; he was able to loan a copy of Papiliones Brianniae from John Obadiah Westwood and from Petiver's drawings was able to add his own colour figures of tesselata to plate V. John Curtis stated in his British Entomology, vol 5 (1823-1840) that he suspected that tesselata would prove to be a variety of M. athalia. Henry Noel Humphreys figured tesselata from Stephen's Illustrations in J. O. Westwood's British Butterflies and their Transformations (1841).
In the Dale collection there is an example of M. athalia ab. tesselata that is set in a very old style. This specimen was obtained by J.C. Dale from a T. Cooke in February or March 1864. It is possible that this specimen was originally captured by one of the early Aurelians, perhaps even Petiver at Caen Hill Wood because it seems to have been only recorded from that locality where it was not uncommon.
Charles William Dale in his History of British Butterflies (1889) described the specimen of tesselata " It is a paler shade on the upper surface than the type, and the forewings are more fulvous underneath ; the hind wings beneath are entirely straw coloured with black veins ; a broad curved fascia of straw yellow runs across the middle of the wings, edged with black, and an irregular black line running through the middle of it ; this is succeeded by a row of black lunules, and the margin is straw yellow with a black vandyked line running along it."
Below. M. athalia ab. tesselata. H. N. Humphreys & J.O. Westwood. (1841) British Butterflies and their Transformations plate 9, figs 13 & 14.
Below. M. athalia ab. tesselata. Ex coll T. Cooke 1864. Dale coll. OUMNH.
Melitaea athalia ab. eos Haworth 1803.
A beautiful aberration of M. athalia in the Dale collection that is in perfect condition was taken in 1803 by John Howard at Peckham in Kent, now part of Greater London. This specimen was named by Adrain Hardy Haworth as Papilio eos (Goddess of the morning) in his Lepidoptera Britannica. Stephens later figured it as M. Pyronia Hubner on plate IV of Illustrations of British Entomology, vol 1 (1828). Curtis (1823-1840) considered eos to be a variety of M. athalia.
A specimen set as an underside in the Dalean collection is also labelled eos ; it is rather more sharply marked on the upperside but paler on the underside than the previously mentioned upperside example. It was obtained at the Samuel Stevens sale by C.W. Dale in 1900.
F.W. Frohawk in Varieties of British Butterflies, pl 19 (1938) figured ab eos from a specimen he captured at Abbots Wood, Sussex on June 23, 1907. It has been suggested by some authors that ab eos is referable to ab corythallia Hubner 1790.
Below. M. athalia ab. eos. J. F. Stephens (1828) Illustrations of British Entomology, vol 1, plate IV, figs 1 & 2.
Below. M. athalia ab. eos. John Howard. Peckham 1803. Ex Haworth coll. Ex Ashburton coll. Ex Stevens coll. Stevens sale 1900 (C.W.D.) Dale coll. OUMNH.
Below. M. athalia ab. eos. Ex Samuel Stevens coll. Stevens sale 1900 (C.W. Dale) Dale coll. OUMNH.
Melitaea athalia ab. cymathoe Bertolini 1829.
An extreme melanic M. athalia ab. cymathoe specimen in the Dale collection is also Ex collection Samuel Stevens and was bought at the sale of his collection by C.W. Dale in 1900. In Frederick Bond's collection there were specimens of both M. athalia ab. eos and ab. cymathoe that were figured by Edward Newman in his Illustrated Natural History of British Butterflies (1871).
Below. M. athalia. ab. cymathoe. Ex Stevens coll. (C.W. Dale) Dale coll. OUMNH.
M. athalia ab. pryonia Hubner 1804.
Two further aberrations in the Dale collection are Ex Samuel Stevens coll. One has "pryonia Hubner " placed at its side. Jacob Hübner figures pryonia in (1804) Sammlung europäischer Schmetterling plate 114, figs 585-588. The upper forewings are similar in Dale specimen but with brighter markings on the hindwings. Hübner's figures of pryonia are quite similar in appearance to ab eos Haworth.
Below. M. athalia ab. pryonia Hubner 1804. Ex Stevens Coll. Stevens sale 1900. (C.W. Dale) Dale coll. OUMNH.
Below. M. athalia ab. pryonia. (1804) Sammlung europäischer Schmetterling plate 114, figs 585-588.
Below. An unnamed M. athalia aberration. Ex Stevens Coll. Stevens sale 1900 (C.W. Dale) Dale coll. OUMNH.
The specimen images were taken by me and remain the copyright of OUMNH.
M. athalia abberations observed by Lee and Robert Slaughter in Cornwall during 1994 & 2017.
Amazingly some extreme aberrations of M. athalia in the Dale collection have been recorded in recent times. During June 1994 Lee Slaughter observed both ab eos and ab. cymathoe in a woodland in Cornwall and a superb almost full melanic individual which is certainly an ab nov. During 2017, Lee's son Robert also found another extreme aberration in a Cornish woodland. I would like to thank Lee and Robert for permission to show their images here.
Below. Extreme melanic M. athalia ab. nov. Cornwall. June 16, 1994. Copyright Lee Slaughter.
Below. M. athalia ab. eos. Cornwall. June 20, 1994. Copyright Lee Slaughter.
Below. M. athalia ab. cymathoe. Cornwall. June 16, 1994. Copyright Lee Slaughter.
Below. Extreme M. athalia ab. Cornwall. June 4, 2017. Copright Robert Slaughter.
Below. M. athalia typical male. June 2014. Exmoor, Somerset. (image taken by me)
The Heath Fritillary, Melitaea athalia is an endangered and a protected butterfly in Britain. It is now confined to a few colonies in Kent, Essex (where it has been reintroduced) west Somerset (Exmoor) and Cornwall. Once more widespread, M. athalia declined through the lack of coppicing in woodlands. It was formerly found in Staffordshire in the West Midlands of England, where it became extinct in the 19th century. Edward Newman in The Natural History of British Butterflies (1871) recorded Burnt Wood, Staffordshire (J.B. Hodgkinson) and abundant in a wood in South Staffordshire (J. Hardy). In the Dale collection housed in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History OUMNH there are a few 19th century specimens from Staffordshire and among them an aberration with yellow markings on the hindwings.
Below. M. athalia from Staffordshire. 1. Typical. 2. Aberration. Dale coll. OUMNH.
Melitaea athalia ab. tesselata Stephens 1828.
M. athalia was first recorded as a British species by James Petiver (c. 1665 – 1718) the London apothecary in 1699. Petiver the father of British entomology found the butterfly he called the May Fritillary in Cain (Caen) Wood at Hampstead in Middlesex. He reported that it was common there together with a variety that he believed to be a separate species "Paplio Fritillaria tesselata serontina subtus straminea", the Straw May Fritillary. It is interesting that Petiver recorded taking tesselata in early May, today M. athalia is rarely seen before June.
Petiver figured both athalia and tesselata in Papiliones Brianniae, plate 3 (1717). John Francis Stephens in his Illustrations of British Entomology, vol 1. (1828) regarded tesselata as a distinct and lost British species; he was able to loan a copy of Papiliones Brianniae from John Obadiah Westwood and from Petiver's drawings was able to add his own colour figures of tesselata to plate V. John Curtis stated in his British Entomology, vol 5 (1823-1840) that he suspected that tesselata would prove to be a variety of M. athalia. Henry Noel Humphreys figured tesselata from Stephen's Illustrations in J. O. Westwood's British Butterflies and their Transformations (1841).
In the Dale collection there is an example of M. athalia ab. tesselata that is set in a very old style. This specimen was obtained by J.C. Dale from a T. Cooke in February or March 1864. It is possible that this specimen was originally captured by one of the early Aurelians, perhaps even Petiver at Caen Hill Wood because it seems to have been only recorded from that locality where it was not uncommon.
Charles William Dale in his History of British Butterflies (1889) described the specimen of tesselata " It is a paler shade on the upper surface than the type, and the forewings are more fulvous underneath ; the hind wings beneath are entirely straw coloured with black veins ; a broad curved fascia of straw yellow runs across the middle of the wings, edged with black, and an irregular black line running through the middle of it ; this is succeeded by a row of black lunules, and the margin is straw yellow with a black vandyked line running along it."
Below. M. athalia ab. tesselata. H. N. Humphreys & J.O. Westwood. (1841) British Butterflies and their Transformations plate 9, figs 13 & 14.
Below. M. athalia ab. tesselata. Ex coll T. Cooke 1864. Dale coll. OUMNH.
Melitaea athalia ab. eos Haworth 1803.
A beautiful aberration of M. athalia in the Dale collection that is in perfect condition was taken in 1803 by John Howard at Peckham in Kent, now part of Greater London. This specimen was named by Adrain Hardy Haworth as Papilio eos (Goddess of the morning) in his Lepidoptera Britannica. Stephens later figured it as M. Pyronia Hubner on plate IV of Illustrations of British Entomology, vol 1 (1828). Curtis (1823-1840) considered eos to be a variety of M. athalia.
A specimen set as an underside in the Dalean collection is also labelled eos ; it is rather more sharply marked on the upperside but paler on the underside than the previously mentioned upperside example. It was obtained at the Samuel Stevens sale by C.W. Dale in 1900.
F.W. Frohawk in Varieties of British Butterflies, pl 19 (1938) figured ab eos from a specimen he captured at Abbots Wood, Sussex on June 23, 1907. It has been suggested by some authors that ab eos is referable to ab corythallia Hubner 1790.
Below. M. athalia ab. eos. J. F. Stephens (1828) Illustrations of British Entomology, vol 1, plate IV, figs 1 & 2.
Below. M. athalia ab. eos. John Howard. Peckham 1803. Ex Haworth coll. Ex Ashburton coll. Ex Stevens coll. Stevens sale 1900 (C.W.D.) Dale coll. OUMNH.
Below. M. athalia ab. eos. Ex Samuel Stevens coll. Stevens sale 1900 (C.W. Dale) Dale coll. OUMNH.
Melitaea athalia ab. cymathoe Bertolini 1829.
An extreme melanic M. athalia ab. cymathoe specimen in the Dale collection is also Ex collection Samuel Stevens and was bought at the sale of his collection by C.W. Dale in 1900. In Frederick Bond's collection there were specimens of both M. athalia ab. eos and ab. cymathoe that were figured by Edward Newman in his Illustrated Natural History of British Butterflies (1871).
Below. M. athalia. ab. cymathoe. Ex Stevens coll. (C.W. Dale) Dale coll. OUMNH.
M. athalia ab. pryonia Hubner 1804.
Two further aberrations in the Dale collection are Ex Samuel Stevens coll. One has "pryonia Hubner " placed at its side. Jacob Hübner figures pryonia in (1804) Sammlung europäischer Schmetterling plate 114, figs 585-588. The upper forewings are similar in Dale specimen but with brighter markings on the hindwings. Hübner's figures of pryonia are quite similar in appearance to ab eos Haworth.
Below. M. athalia ab. pryonia Hubner 1804. Ex Stevens Coll. Stevens sale 1900. (C.W. Dale) Dale coll. OUMNH.
Below. M. athalia ab. pryonia. (1804) Sammlung europäischer Schmetterling plate 114, figs 585-588.
Below. An unnamed M. athalia aberration. Ex Stevens Coll. Stevens sale 1900 (C.W. Dale) Dale coll. OUMNH.
The specimen images were taken by me and remain the copyright of OUMNH.
M. athalia abberations observed by Lee and Robert Slaughter in Cornwall during 1994 & 2017.
Amazingly some extreme aberrations of M. athalia in the Dale collection have been recorded in recent times. During June 1994 Lee Slaughter observed both ab eos and ab. cymathoe in a woodland in Cornwall and a superb almost full melanic individual which is certainly an ab nov. During 2017, Lee's son Robert also found another extreme aberration in a Cornish woodland. I would like to thank Lee and Robert for permission to show their images here.
Below. Extreme melanic M. athalia ab. nov. Cornwall. June 16, 1994. Copyright Lee Slaughter.
Below. M. athalia ab. eos. Cornwall. June 20, 1994. Copyright Lee Slaughter.
Below. M. athalia ab. cymathoe. Cornwall. June 16, 1994. Copyright Lee Slaughter.
Below. Extreme M. athalia ab. Cornwall. June 4, 2017. Copright Robert Slaughter.
Below. M. athalia typical male. June 2014. Exmoor, Somerset. (image taken by me)