Butterflies of
Britain & Europe
Duke of Burgundy
Hamearis lucina
LINNAEUS, 1758
Family - RIODINIDAE
subfamily -
RIODININAE
introduction
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habitats |
lifecycle |
adult behaviour
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Duke of Burgundy
Hamearis lucina, female, Hampshire |
Introduction
This attractive species
is the sole European representative of the Riodinidae, an incredibly
varied and fascinating
family of butterflies, commonly known
as metalmarks, which has it's headquarters in
the rainforests and cloudforests of South America.
It is in fact closely related to the
genus Audre,
from Brazil, so it seems likely that it is an ancient species, possibly dating
back millions of years to the time when the present day continents
first broke away from the super-continent Pangaea.
The
butterfly was originally known as "Mr Vernon's Small Fritillary", and then the
"Duke of Burgundy Fritillary". It is of course entirely unrelated to other
Fritillaries, so the latter part of the name has now been dropped to become
simply the Duke of Burgundy.
The
Duke of Burgundy is found in scattered colonies across much of Europe, although
it is absent from Scotland,
Ireland, southern Spain, Portugal, the Mediterranean islands, Norway, Finland
and northern Sweden. Beyond Europe it occurs in temperate Asia as far east
as the Ural mountains.
Males are
noticeably
darker than females.
They also have thinner abdomens, with the anal claspers clearly visible,
and their
forewings have a much straighter outer margin.
The easiest way to tell the sexes apart however is to
count
the legs - females have six legs
( the front pair are very reduced in size ), but males have only four.
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Duke of
Burgundy
Hamearis lucina, female, Hampshire |
Habitats
The
Duke of Burgundy was once widespread across much of England and
Wales, but it's range has contracted considerably. There are now only a few
dozen colonies, most of which are scattered across central southern England, plus a
handful of relict colonies in south Cumbria and east Yorkshire.
It was
formerly considered to be primarily a woodland insect, and is still found in a
few oak / hazel woods where there is a long unbroken history of coppicing. The
abandonment of coppicing at most other woods however has caused the
extinction of most
colonies.
Historically colonies on scrubby and sheltered calcareous grassland
were always scarcer, but it is here that most colonies
are nowadays found. Typical sites include abandoned chalk
or limestone quarries, disused railway cuttings and
scrubby grassland coombes in the south
of Britain; and grassland /
woodland mosaics on limestone in the north. Most colonies are very small,
containing less than 20 adults at the peak of the flight season, but a few
substantially larger colonies exist.
Lifecycle
The
Duke of Burgundy emerges in late April on grassland sites, or in early May at
woodland sites in southern England, and
is single-brooded. Northern populations emerge later, in mid-late May. In warmer
parts of Europe, there may be
a partial second brood which emerges in August. In England it is extremely
unusual for there to be a second brood - the only example I have encountered
being a male seen in Hampshire on 5th August 2007, although there were also
reports of 3 males seen at Rodborough Common in Gloucester in August 2009.
The
spherical, cream coloured eggs are laid in little
groups of 3 or 4 on the underside of leaves of the foodplants, close to
the edge of the leaf. Females nearly always lay on lush plants growing in dappled sunlight,
where the leaves are erect and supported by surrounding vegetation.
Usually the chosen plants are growing close to
bushes, where they escape grazing by rabbits
or sheep.
In
coppiced woodlands the eggs are laid on primrose leaves
Primula vulgaris, whilst at grassland
sites cowslip
Primula veris
is used instead.
Sometimes eggs are laid on nearby plants,
rather than directly on the foodplants, e.g. in 2006 I observed a female
laying on
Potentilla
in a Hampshire copse, although there were cowslips and primroses nearby.
In April 2007 I observed a female lay 2 eggs on a cowslip flower
head, but this is extremely unusual.
The hairy
greyish-brown caterpillar feeds nocturnally on the leaves of cowslip or
primrose, leaving characteristic nibbled holes. During the daytime it retreats
to hide at the base of the plant.
It is fully grown in late July, at which time it wanders a short distance to
pupate
amongst leaf litter around the base of bushes.
The
pupa is cream coloured with black spots on the thorax and abdomen, and is
usually attached to the upperside of a curled up dead leaf, or to the base of a
dead stem.
Adult behaviour
The
butterflies
are
most active on sunny mornings.
By about midday activity has usually ceased, although they will
fly until mid afternoon in cooler or overcast weather. Duke of
Burgundies rarely move far from the immediate vicinity of their
breeding sites, but in May 2008 I discovered a fresh male that
had wandered from it's woodland habitat onto a chalk grassland
ridge over a mile away.
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Duke of Burgundy
Hamearis lucina, male, Hampshire |
Males divide
their time fairly equally between basking, flying
and
perching on
bushes - typically selecting hazel, dog rose or hawthorn bushes.
At woodland sites these perches are usually located at ride
intersections or at the edge of small sheltered clearings, where
the outlooks maximise their chances of intercepting females. The perches are
defended vigorously against
other
intruding males. When the owner of a perch spots another male he
instantly flies up to intercept it, and the pair spiral rapidly
upwards together until the intruder gives up and flies away.
When females are intercepted copulation follows almost
immediately. Mated pairs can sometimes be found in mid-late
morning, sitting on bushes.
Females are
seen less often than males due to their more elusive and
sedentary behaviour. They can sometimes be seen basking on the
ground on hazy days, but are most often seen investigating
cowslips in small glades.
Both sexes
normally bask with the wings half or three-quarters open, often
settling amongst short grass growing in sheltered pockets of
scrubby grassland; or on the foliage of hazel, blackthorn or
hawthorn in lightly wooded habitats. They commonly settle
on cowslip flowers, but I've never seen them nectar at this
plant. It is in fact quite unusual to see them nectaring at any
species of plant, although at some sites they visit
wood spurge, and occasionally other flowers including
blackthorn, hawthorn, wood forget-me-not, wayfaring tree, cow parsley and wild
strawberry.
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Duke of Burgundy
Hamearis lucina, female, Hampshire |
In cloudy weather
the butterflies often rest for long periods on cowslip flowers, but
when ready to retire for the day they roost in less conspicuous
situations - typically
amongst
the foliage of
juniper,
hazel or
hawthorn
bushes, or less
commonly on the dead flower-heads
of knapweed, marjoram or
St
John's wort. In wet weather
they normally hide
deep in grass tussocks, but I have also
found them
sheltering under cowslip leaves and other low
vegetation.
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