...Simon Coombes Picture Gallery III

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Larger images of most of the following butterflies and moths are available by clicking on the images shown.

Bath White - Pontia daplidice

The Bath white was probably the commonest white on Tenerife, outstripping even the Small white, Pieris rapae. This one was taken on the cliffs above Los Gigantes. I don't usually have a lot of success with photographing 'Whites' but this one came out OK, I guess there's quite a lot of colour on it though.

African Grass Blue - Zizeeria knysna

The 'flower bed' blue. I've also seen these in Portugal in March, again seemingly shunning 'natural' habitat, it frequented a grass lawn next to the swimming pool that was sprinkled every day.

African Migrant - Catopsilia florella

The African migrant has only recently colonized the Canary Islands. It prefers imported shrubs and so you are more likely to see it in man made resorts and gardens than anywhere else. They didn't settle often but seemed partial to this red blossom. There was a wide variety of colour variation from white through to quite strong yellow.

Canary Blue (Female) - Cyclyrius webbianus

Canary Blue (Male) - Cyclyrius webbianus

As you can see from the pictures this is a very special butterfly. The female is a golden colour on top while the male is dark with some blue near his body. Underneath they look similar. Photography was somewhat hampered by the windy conditions that prevailed during most of my visit.

Canary Speckled Wood - Pararge xiphoides

Quite widespread on Tenerife, unfortunately my upperside pictures were taken on a film I lost somehow. The main differences with the usual European Speckled wood, Pararge aegeria are: Forewing is convex in xiphoides, concave in aegeria. The underside of xiphoides has a much more prominent white streak, and its postdiscal white specks are more clearly defined.

Canary (Indian) Red Admiral - Vanessa (indica) vulcania

The Canary red admiral, Vanessa vulcania was thought to be a subspecies of the Indian red admiral, Vanessa indica. Recent studies have decided however that it is a separate species in its own right.

Long-Tailed Blue - Lampides hoeticus

A widespread European species, including Tenerife. As they are strong migrants they fly rapidly and don't settle for as long as would be nice for photography. The ones that settle of course are a little jaded, and have no tails!

References

• Simon Coombes, Photographer

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