Darwin's Heath - Coenonympha darwiniana

Darwin's Heath

Coenonympha darwiniana

Switzerland, July 2008

Switzerland

This butterfly is like the pearly heath and the Alpine heath. It can be distinguished from both by the pattern of spots on the underside hindwing. Most of these are ringed yellow or ochre and lie just outside the white band, while one lies inside the band and is not in line with them. There is no spot between these two series.

Darwin's heath is local in the Alps, in Switzerland and France. The creature in the background of the last picture is a fellow lepidopterist, an even rarer but quite widespread species.