David Element
Wildlife Photography and Digital Video Images
____________________________________________________________________________
Butterflies 90 – Gatekeepers
GATEKEEPER BUTTERFLY Pyronia
tithonus (m)
GATEKEEPER BUTTERFLY Pyronia
tithonus (m)
GATEKEEPER BUTTERFLY Pyronia
tithonus
GATEKEEPER BUTTERFLY Pyronia
tithonus (m)
GATEKEEPER BUTTERFLY Pyronia
tithonus
GATEKEEPER BUTTERFLY Pyronia
tithonus (m)
GATEKEEPER BUTTERFLY Pyronia
tithonus (m)
GATEKEEPER
BUTTERFLY Pyronia tithonus (m)
GATEKEEPER BUTTERFLY Pyronia
tithonus
GATEKEEPER BUTTERFLY Pyronia
tithonus
GATEKEEPER BUTTERFLY Pyronia
tithonus (f)
GATEKEEPER
BUTTERFLY Pyronia tithonus (f)
GATEKEEPER BUTTERFLY Pyronia
tithonus (f)
·
The Gatekeeper Butterfly Pyronia
tithonus is a familiar butterfly in the
southern counties of the UK where it is often abundant along woodland margins
and hedgerows. This species often feeds on flowers, sometimes in numbers. Superficially
this insect resembles a small Meadow Brown Maniola
jurtina, but the orange markings are more
extensive, and the double-pupilled eyespots visible
on the upper- and undersides of the forewings used as flash coloration to deter
avian predators are distinctive. These are obscured when the butterfly is at
rest with the orange areas of the forewings hidden behind the cryptically
patterned hindwings. Often these butterflies may be observed on the wing
together and the Gatekeeper is noticeably the brighter of the two. Males are smaller
than females, and they may be identified by the brown sex-brands on their
forewings. There are additional Satyrid species in continental Europe
with overlapping ranges and a similar appearance, in particular the Southern
Gatekeeper P. cecilia and the Spanish
Gatekeeper P. bathsheba. Their markings (including
the sex-brands of the males) differ sufficiently to enable unequivocal
identifications to be obtained from photographs.
-> Butterflies 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120
-> Species
Index, Common Names
-> Species
Index, Scientific Names
-> Site Index
-> Home