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Butterflies of Britain & Europe
 
Duke of Burgundy
Hamearis lucina LINNAEUS, 1758
Family - RIODINIDAE
subfamily - RIODININAE
 
 introduction | habitats | lifecycle | adult behaviour
 
Duke of Burgundy Hamearis lucina, male, Hampshire
 
Introduction
 
This attractive little butterfly is the sole European representative of the Riodinidae, an incredibly fascinating family of butterflies, usually known as metalmarks, which has it's headquarters in the Amazon and Andes.
 
This species 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 butterfly is distributed across much of Europe, but absent from Scotland, Ireland, most of Scandinavia, the southern part of Spain and Portugal, and the Mediterranean islands. Beyond Europe it occurs in temperate Asia as far east as the Ural mountains.
 
It is very 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.
 
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.
 
Duke of Burgundy Hamearis lucina, female, Hampshire
 
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.
 
Duke of Burgundy Hamearis lucina, male, Hampshire
 
Lifecycle
 
The Duke of Burgundy emerges in late April or early May in the south of England, and is single-brooded. Northern populations emerge later, in mid-late May. In southern 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.
 
Duke of Burgundy Hamearis lucina, male, Hampshire
 
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. Many eggs however are devoured by snails.
 
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. On one occasion in April 2007 I observed a female oviposit 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.
 
Duke of Burgundy Hamearis lucina, female, Hampshire
 
Adult behaviour
 
Both sexes nectar avidly at wood spurge, and occasionally visits other flowers including wood forget-me-not, wayfaring tree, blackthorn, cow parsley and wild strawberry. They commonly bask on low bushes or herbage, usually with wings held half-open.
 
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.
 
Duke of Burgundy Hamearis lucina, male, Hampshire

Males divide their time fairly equally between basking, flying and perching on the foliage of hazel, dog rose or hawthorn bushes. These perches are defended vigorously against other intruding males, and are used as lookout posts from which they can survey and intercept passing females. Copulation occurs in mid-late morning, without any form of pre-nuptial ritual.

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.

Some tropical relatives of the Duke of Burgundy

 

 

Rhetus dysonii, Peru

Amarynthis meneria, Ecuador

Ancyluris aulestes, Venezuela

Ithomiola floralis, Peru

Lasaia agesilas, Brazil

Lyropteryx apollonia, Peru

Paralaxita damajanti, Malaysia

Melanis cinaron, Peru

 

                                                       
Almost every British and European species of butterfly is declining rapidly in numbers, due in most cases to loss or degradation of habitats.
 
You can help to reverse the decline by supporting conservation organisations which purchase and manage habitats as nature reserves, and which lobby government at local, national and international levels, often very successfully, to bring about changes in farming, forestry and urban development policies.
 
Please contact the conservation organisations for advice on how you can help protect British and European butterflies and their habitats. You may be able to offer practical help e.g. by monitoring butterfly populations or helping to manage nature reserves. Donations to these organisations enable them to employ ecologists and biologists. Even if you are unable to provide such help, merely having your name on the membership list can be a powerful tool for conservation organisations wishing to demonstrate the levels of support they have for their policies.

 

 
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