[10-08-2025]

This female C. argiades was raising her abdomen like a wine drinker his pinky.

#Lepidoptera #Butterfly #ShortTailedBlue #Insect #Nature #Macro

A lovely little Twenty-Plume Moth on the window of my flats this morning.

I got an OM 90mm macro lens a while back. That's 180mm in old 35mm money, so the theory was it would make for easier photography of butterflies, hovers etc as I'd be farther away and not spook them so much. Seems to work! It's a sublime lens, btw.
#Nature #Macro #Insect #Hoverfly #Butterfly #Lepidoptera #Photography

This special trip was a mixed bag, as most species were strangely absent & most nectar plants were replaced by few tall grasses.

This P. icarus kept following & observing me for some reason. With thr exception of two females, most common blues are unusually small, indicating a lack of "high quality" host plants.

#Lepidoptera #Butterfly #CommonBlue #Insect #Nature #Macro

Also from the post-lunch walk, a #comma #butterfly resting on an ivy plant. It was not ideally located for my purposes but I am pleased with how it has come out. It looks a bit ragged, but that is a feature of this species, not any injury.
#photography #nature #insects #lepidoptera

Another contribution from my teen, this sweet wee woolly bear (probably a Virginian tiger moth, 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘢 𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢) found close to home:

#MothOfTheDay is a tiny but pretty micromoth.

Carcina quercana
(Long-horned, flat body)

As the 'quercana' name obviously suggests, its larvae feed on oak. It is common and widespread in the UK.

Buenos días con esta Aglais (Inachis) io.
#insects #insectos #mariposas #butterfly #macro #lepidoptera #photography #nature #naturaleza #fotografia

A guest blog post from my husband Martin on my academic musings blog. Butterflies in Dundee in 2025. https://vivsacademicblog.wordpress.com/2025/08/09/guest-blog-post-butterflies-in-dundee-in-2025/ #Butterflies #lepidoptera #Dundee #Scotland #Wildlife #Nature #Photography

Here's a male monarch butterfly on a meadow blazing star in the backyard today. He's in the classic monarch pose I always try to capture monarchs in. The proboscis is curled and the antennae are up, with a nice profile view. #butterflies #Lepidoptera #photography #SaveTheMonarch

[07-08-2025]

My local I. lathonia disappeared halfway through May & were seemingly replaced by B. dia for at least a month before disappearing without a trace, as well. Despite the first finally returning, its decline correlates with the sudden decline & total absence of all local clover species outside of my own yard.

#Lepidoptera #Butterfly #QueenOfSpainFritillary #Insect #Nature #Macro

#MothOfTheDay is another from the Prominent family

IRON PROMINENT
Notodonta dromedarius

As I was re-positioning it onto my finger for 2nd overhead picture, this one excreted a lymph excretion which some do when feeling threatened. A warning to me not to harm it. Photo taken, he promptly flew away.

#NewSpecies!
New butterfly from #angola just fluttered by:

Iolaus francisi

Treatment: https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03ED7F57-5953-FF83-12C3-66D8FD97FCB1
Publication: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5660.1.3
#Zootaxa #IolausFrancisi

#FAIRdata
#science #OA #openaccess #biology #taxonomy #ecology #biodiversity #nature #wildlife #conservation #animals #invertebrates #entomology #insects #lepidoptera #butterfly

I hope I counted correctly: eight pairs of stubby little legs were in a hurry to cross the road. That last segment with the "tail" looks so cute.
It's the caterpillar of the Waved Sphinx Moth (Ceratomia undulosa).