Photo album 2015    
         
   
 
   
       
         
    pages >>   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12  
 
       
       
    << mature caterpillar of a large Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis polychloros) found on Ulmus sp. - Var (France) - 08/05/2015
       
       
    << male of Lulworth Skipper (Thymelicus acteon) - Var (France) - 08/05/2015
       
       
   
<< mating pair of Spanish Festoons (Zerynthia rumina) ; the female is above - Var (France) - 08/05/2015
       
       
   

<< exceptional sighting of a bilateral gynandromorphic specimen of Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) ; the right side of this insect is male whereas the other side is female. This is a scarce genetic aberration which occurs in the initial stage of embryogenesis, when the very first cell (i.e. the fertilized egg) divides in two. At this moment, one of the two sexual chromosomes gets accidentally deleted and will thus be missing in one of the two newly-formed cells, which will become genetically different ; each one of these cells will give rise to all the cells located on the same side of the future insect, one side will be "male" and the other will be "female". This results in an insect body which seems to be formed from two distinct halves. This is very striking in this species as there is a strong morphological difference between the two sexes. Gynandromorphism is expressed here not only by a colour aberration, but also by an aberration of internal sexual organs (one testicle in the right side of the abdomen, one ovary in the left side) ; this insect is unable to mate. In the field, several males were attracted to this freak specimen -as they would have been with a normal female- but they quickly flew away without further courtship Var (France) - 30/04/2015
       
       
    << a Hummingbird Hawk-Moth in stationary flight (Macroglossum stellarum) - Var (France) - 30/04/2015
       
       
   
<<  two views of the same female of Chequered Blue (Scolitantides orion) - Var (France) - 30/04/2015
       
       
    << a male of Slate Burnet (Zygaena rhadamanthus) - Var (France) - 30/04/2015
       
       
    << a female of Provence Orange Tip (Anthocharis euphenoides) - Var (France) - 30/04/2015
       
       
    << a female of Marsh Fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia) - Var (France) - 30/04/2015
       
       
    << a caterpillar of Southern Festoon (Zerynthia polyxena) found on Aristolochia rotunda - Var (France) - 30/04/2015
       
       
    << a male of Brimestone (Gonepteryx rhamni) - Var (France) - 30/04/2015
       
       
 


 
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