June butterflies

Lately, my main activity has been the search and identification of butterfly species and habitats. A few trips in southern Dobrogea (Constanta county), in some woods in Dambovita county, in Comana Woods (Giurgiu county), and in the Rasnoavei Gorges (Cheile Rasnoavei, Brasov county) have been very successful, with new species for myself and some new localities for some species previously not recorded in Romania.

I won’t get into details in this post regarding the exact locations, rather I will post a few images of some of the more interesting species, and also of some individuals of well represented species populations in the investigated areas.

1. Zerynthia cerisyi ferdinandi, one of the rarest large butterfly species in Romania due to it’s only one general location in Romania:

2. Parnassius mnemosyne transsylvanica, one of the three subspecies found in Romania, this one being the one flying at the highest altitude:

3. Gonepteryx rhamni rhamni, a species that hibernates as an adult and has it’s first true generation in June, with tens of individuals flying in a few square meters in some locations:

4. Lopinga achine achine, one of the more endangered species in Europe due to habitat lost, and found in one of my trips in rather large numbers at one location:

5. Argynnis paphia paphia, perhaps the best well observed butterfly species of June, due to it’s large size and highly contrasted color, but also due to large numbers of individuals that sometimes gather on the roads or in the woods to drink water (to extract minerals):

6. Brenthis daphne daphne, another well represented species which can be observed in conjunction with the above due to similar habitat requirements:

7. Euphydryas maturna partiensis, another endangered species, which can also be found in some locations in rather large numbers. Unfortunately these locations are subjected to human intervention and thus, these localized populations are highly endangered:

8. Boloria dia dia, a nice small butterfly that can be observed in many locations, but in small numbers:

9. Satyrium spini spini, a lovely small butterfly that is to be seen in large numbers only in specific locations, and usually rather hard to photograph:

10. Lycaena dispar rutila, one of the most beautiful small butterflies in Romania due to it’s intense red color on the upper part of the wings. Unfortunately I did not get a chance at that view, so only ventral images are posted. Also an endangered European species:

11. Aglia tau, a rather hard species to photograph due to it’s high speed zig-zag flight. This one was a female preparing to lay one egg:

These are just some of the many species found in this month, but photographing them is not so easy as identifying them. I hope I’ll get more shots in the following trips.