Coenonympha arcania, pearly heath Widespread in lowland Europe, often on calcareous grasslands with a mixture of shrubbery. The white postdiscal spot is large and the upper eye spot on the hindwing is on the inside of the white zone.

Coenonympha gardetta, Alpine heath Widespread on grasslands above treeline in the Alps. The white is limited and eyespots are all in line on the outer edge of the white zone.

Coenonympha (gardetta) cephalidarwiniana, Darwin's heath complex On the French southern Alpine slopes there is a population with intermediate features, nowadays known as "cephalidarwiniana", externally close to C. arcania. These populations seem to have risen from hybridisation events but are stable now, species in the making. See https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5220 for more information, the name "macromma" has been used there for this species, but this has recently been shown to be a mistake, see https://www.areeprotettealpimarittime.it/media/140e9804.pdf

Coenonympha (gardetta) darwiniana, Darwin's heath complex On the border regions of Switzerland & Italy, Ticino, Domodossola etc there is a populations of heaths that look a bit like Alpine heaths but are much warmer in color and where the upper eyespot is just placed a bit more to the inside of the white zone. These populations seem to have risen from hybridisation events but are stable now, species in the making. See https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5220 for more information. These are the true Darwin's heaths

Pearly heath & Alpine heath form a complex of seemingly integrades in the southern Alps known under the name Darwin's heath - Coenonympha (gardetta) darwiniana. Here's the 4 players in that complex, check ALT text for more info on these species in the making #darwinday #dailylepi #butterflies

Coleophora hydrolapathella is a rare species in Belgium but maybe overlooked. We have 1 population near Ghent. The larvae winter in their cases on old stems of the larval foodplant Rumex hydrolapathum, so marshy grasslands need unmowed parts to keep this species #dailylepi #teammoth

Male Speckled wood Pararge aegeria from Nohèdes, S of France.

Male Speckled wood Pararge aegeria from Peer, Belgium

Speckled wood - Pararge aegeria - has a more vivid orange color in SW Europe than in NW Europe. The change from pale to orange is gradual so some rather call it morphs than subspecies but where and whenever you see them, they're able to capture your attention anytime #vlindermaand #dailylepi

Thymelicus hamza with closed wings. I found it typical that the sandy ground color of the underside hindwing is completely surrounded with an orange border. I didn't see the local subspecies of Thymelicus acteon so I don't know how good this is for an ID feature on pictures of individuals with closed wings. In my European pictures of T. acteon I haven't seen an individual however with such a continuous orange border.

Thymelicus hamza, male with open wings. The pale spots in frontwing tip are lacking or very vague. The darker brownish color is more confined to the area below the androconial stripe, unlike in T. acteon (although they probably look darker when abraded).

While preparing for Morocco last year I only found few Thymelicus hamza pics online, a NW African endemic skipper, so I was afraid it'd be scarce. I found it to be widespread however, I guess the lack of pics is mainly due to people thinking skippers are boring & hard to ID? #dailylepi #vlindermaand

Young larvae of peacock on their spinning on a nettle plant

Peacock butterfly sunning on a nettle plant

English/French/Dutch... names for #peacock #dagpauwoog #paondujour all refer to that one bird. Larval foodplant are nettles and they like them standing humid and warm. I once heard this species is so mobile bc before agricultural N use it had to fly a lot to find nettles...
#vlindermaand #dailylepi

Glaucopsyche alexis is increasing but still a rare spring species in Belgium only found in the very south of the country. It's not too critical on larval foodplant, several Fabaceae will do. In S Europe it's common so climate will be one of the limiting factors in 🇧🇪
#bluebugs #dailylepi #lycaenidae

Melitaea aurelia

Melitaea trivia

Last summer we spent some family time in the Alps on the French-Italian border. On the French side finding Melitaea aurelia was a nice surprise. On the Italian side it was fun seeing numerous Melitaea trivia, even close to France although the species lacks on the other side of the border #dailylepi

Male Polyommatus dorylas underside Pyrenees, July 2020

Male Polyommatus dorylas upperside Pyrenees, July 2020

Female Polyommatus dorylas upperside Pyrenees, July 2020

Turquoise Blue, Polyommatus dorylas, got extinct in Belgium in 1957. Almost accidentally I saw some marked individuals as a young kid in 1992 on one of the last locations in W Germany, only 20km from the Belgian border. The closest populations to Belgium are now 300km+, in the Jura.
#dailylepi

Laeosopis roboris is the sole representative of its genus. It's restricted to Iberia & SE France, locally sometimes common. The larval foodplant is Fraxinus, the wintering egg can survive longer periods under water of foodplants growing in winter beds of streams
#dailylepi #lycaenidae #hairstreak

Ethope noirei

An attractive black Satyrid from montane bamboo forests. It is restricted to S China & N Indochina (Thailand, Laos, Vietnam). This pic is from Nam Nao NP in Thailand.

#dailylepi

A lepi a day keeps troubles away!
It's freezing here now but next week night temp will rise to +5°C so maybe this one will start to get active!
Theria primaria is active mainly in jan-feb, females are flightless with reduced wings, they need black- & hawthorn hedges. Local in Flanders.
#dailylepi