small to medium sized bright tawny orange (fauve) and brown butterfly.
very gregarious -- where you see one you will almost certainly see several.
the underside of the hind wing is mottled brown with an irregular pale band.
one of the most abundant butterflies in France.
fore wings have an eye spot with twin 'pupils', visible on both sides.
Lookalikes: At rest with wings folded they can easily be mistaken for Meadow BrownManiola jurtina, but this species is bigger, the fore wing eye spot only has a single 'pupil' and there are no small indistinct eyespots on the hind wing.
Susan, is the dark stripe on the wing a pheromone area....
ReplyDeletesame as Meadow Brown?
Tim: Yes. Most 'browns' and the 'golden skippers' have a 'sex mark' like this.
ReplyDelete