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Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007, and must not be published in part or in whole elsewhere without prior written permission from the author.
Butterflies of Britain & Europe
 
Comma
Polygonia c-album LINNAEUS, 1758
Family - NYMPHALIDAE
subfamily - NYMPHALINAE
Tribe - NYMPHALINI
 
 introduction | habitats | lifecycle | adult behaviour
 
Comma Polygonia c-album, male hutchinsoni, Ballard Down, Dorset, England
 
Introduction

The Comma was regarded as a common species in the 18th century, but declined and became a great rarity between about 1850 and 1910. Thereafter numbers gradually recovered, and the butterfly can currently be regarded as a common species in southern Britain. In Hampshire and West Sussex for example, it is certainly more abundant than either the Peacock or the Small Tortoiseshell. 

The butterfly gets it's vernacular and species names from the C or comma-shaped silver mark on the underside of the hindwings. The generic name Polygonia is a reference to the angular wing shape. There are no similar species in Britain, but there are closely related species elsewhere in the Holarctic region, including the Southern Comma P. egea of the Mediterranean area, and the Question Marks and Angle-wings of North America.

Comma Polygonia c-album, over-wintered female, Bentley Wood, Wiltshire, England

The Comma is distributed across most of Europe, but absent from Scotland, Ireland and northern Scandinavia. Beyond Europe it occurs across temperate Asia to northern China, Korea and Japan. It also occurs in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

Comma Polygonia c-album, female hutchinsoni, July, Alice Holt forest, Hampshire, England
 
Comma Polygonia c-album, male, August, Selborne, Hampshire, England
 
Habitats
 
This is primarily a woodland species, breeding where stinging nettles grow in damp but sunny situations, typically in glades or at the side of grassy tracks.
 
The summer adults are fairly mobile however, and can also be found in country lanes, old quarries, along railway cuttings, in gardens, on sheltered areas of scrubby grassland, and at coastal habitats.
 
Lifecycle
 
There are 2 generations each year. In February or March the butterflies awaken from hibernation. Some of the progeny from eggs laid in April feed up quickly to produce the brightly marked hutchinsoni brood in early July. Others feed up more slowly and produce darker adults with more angular wings, and emerge in August.
 
The progeny of the hutchinsoni brood feed up very quickly, producing more of the dark, angular adults, which emerge slightly later, in September. In late September or early October, the butterflies of both broods enter hibernation.
 
The green, ribbed eggs are laid singly, close to the edge on the upperside of stinging nettle leaves. The butterflies typically oviposit on nettles growing as small clumps in sunny woodland glades, or sheltered by hedgerows. Egg-laying sites are always close to nectar sources such as blackthorn ( in spring ) or bramble blossom ( in summer ).
 
Although stinging nettle Urtica dioica is undoubtedly the primary foodplant in Britain, the larvae are also found on the sucker growth of English elm Ulmus procera, and more rarely on wych elm U. glabra, hop Humulus lupulus, sallow Salix caprea, hazel Corylus avellana, or cultivated blackcurrant Ribes nigrum.
 
The fully grown larva is unmistakable, being brownish black, with orange spikes on the front segments, and a long splash of white along the back. It often rests on the upper surface of a leaf, adopting a semi-curled posture, and at a glance can be mistaken for a bird dropping.
 
The chrysalis is marbled in shades of brown, decorated with small silver and gold markings. Sometimes very dark pupae can be found, but these always turn out to be parasitised. I have occasionally found pupae attached to concrete or wooden fence posts, but at the woodland sites where the butterflies more generally breed, they are more commonly found suspended from woody stems or well shaded tree trunks.
 
Comma Polygonia c-album, female, Noar Hill, Hampshire, England
 
Adult behaviour
 

In spring Commas occupy ride intersections and glades, and often nectar at blackthorn blossom. They also visit dandelions, cuckoo flower and sallow catkins. They spend long periods basking on the ground, on logs, on bramble leaves, or on dead bracken. It is also common to see them basking head-downwards, on fence posts, or on the trunks of birch and other trees.

 

Males occupy territories, and establish perches on twigs, or on a favoured leaf, which act as vantage points. Intruding male Commas, and butterflies of certain other species including Peacocks, are always ousted by the "owner" of the territory. Summer brood Commas often perch on hazel bushes or bracken, and intercept intruding Gatekeepers and Speckled Woods.

 

Passing female Commas are intercepted, but I have never observed any courtship ritual, or found any mated pairs.

 

On warm sunny days butterflies of both sexes frequently settle on paths, tree stumps or wood shavings to imbibe moisture. In cool cloudy weather, they roost openly on foliage, and if disturbed will feign death, falling to the ground, with their wings closed, and their white legs tucked tightly against their bodies.

 

Summer nectar sources include bramble, hemp agrimony, marjoram, wild carrot, thistles and traveller's joy. In early autumn the butterflies nectar at devil's bit scabious, buddleia and ragwort; and often congregate to feed at fermenting blackberries prior to hibernation.

 

Comma Polygonia c-album, feasting on fermenting blackberries in autumn

 

They spend the winter months hidden in wood stacks, hollow tree trunks, or sometimes out in the open, hanging beneath branches.

 

Comma Polygonia c-album, hibernating openly under a low branch, January 2008.

 

They are also reported to hibernate in full view on bramble bushes. I have not observed this myself, but have sometimes found Commas hibernating head-downwards amongst dead frosty grasses. In this position they bear a remarkable resemblance to a dead leaf.

 
                                                       
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.

 

 
Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007-2008, and must not be reproduced or published in part or in whole elsewhere in any form without written permission from Adrian Hoskins. Breach of copyright will be pursued by litigation.
 
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