The Small Copper ab. caeruleopunctata Rühl In Suffolk, 1983–2000

NOTESABERRANT ON SOME SUFFOLK SMALL COPPER MOTHS, 2000

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The Small Copper ab. caeruleopunctata Rühl In Suffolk, 1983–2000 The most common aberration of the Small Copper, Lycaena phlaeas L. is described by Emmet & Heath (1990) as ‘one in which there is a postdiscal series of blue interneural spots on the upperside of the hindwing’ (Plate 6).

These are located inside the copper coloured band near the bottom edge of the hindwing. The same source describes ab. caeruleopunctata Rühl as being common north of Scotland, where it can comprise up to half the Small Copper population. Thomas & Levington (1991) add that it is also ‘common enough in the south’.

In Suffolk it appears to be less common. Beaufoy (1947) gathered most of his data from Suffolk but does not mention this aberration. Mendel and Piotrowski (1986) also has no reference to any Small Copper aberrations and I could find no records in the species files from the 1983–1985 Suffolk Butterfly Survey. There were also no accounts of ab. caeruleopunctata Rühl from the butterfly records in Suffolk between 1986 and 1993.

My own interest began in 1994 when my wife and I found several of this aberrant form as part of a count of 433 Small Coppers at Tangham on 25 September 1994 (Stewart, 1995). When the Millennium Butterfly Survey started in Suffolk in 1995 I tried to study any Small Coppers at close quarters, alerted all appointed Main Recorders to do similarly and encouraged all attending field meetings to search for it. The result was a further eight records between 1997 and 1999 and four more in the year 2000, after the Survey had finished.

Date Site Grid Recorder No. 12th September 1997 Combs Lane TM042581 John Walshe 1 Water Meadows 16th July 1998 Fakenham Wood TL9277 Richard Stewart 1 27th July 1998 Kenton Hills TM463640 Alan & Beryl 1 Johnson 1st September 1998 Tinker’s Barn TM476757 Anne-Marie & 2 area, Walberswick Richard Stewart 2nd September 1998 Walberswick TM486752 Anne-Marie & several Common Richard Stewart 6th September 1998 Kenton Hills TM463640 Alan & Beryl 1 Johnson 21st September 1998 Tangham TM358479 Anne-Marie & 1 Richard Stewart 4th September 1999 Reydon TM502771 Zoe McLaughlin 1 3rd July 2000 Aldringham TM464612 Steve Goddard 1 Walks & Richard Stewart 8th July 2000 Mildenhall WoodsTL7295 Steve Goddard 1 & Richard Stewart Week 1 August 2000 Minsmere TM478672 Dave Dennis several 17th September 2000 Bixley TM2044 Steve Goddard 1

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This total of 13 may appear to be a small sample but it exceeds the total number of aberrations reported to me between 1994 and 2000 for all remaining resident butterfly species in Suffolk – just five, which covered single aberration records for Comma, Ringlet and Wall and two for the Orange Tip. Since the two Tangham records came from different ends of a large site, the 1998 records from Kenton Hills are the only instance of this aberration being recorded twice in one year at the same site. The gap of 41 days between the two records could indicate that both ware from the same generation, or the second from the next one. To my knowledge only the two Walberswick sites have been specifically surveyed for this aberration at the same time in the following year and none were found on either site. Of the eight recorders featured in these records, six were Main Recorders aware of this aberration and the other two had been personally requested to search for it.

Such a small set of records cannot determine whether this aberration is genuinely rare in Suffolk or simply overlooked by most butterfly recorders.

The latter could be possible for two reasons. First, the Small Copper, despite its relatively small size, is a conspicuous butterfly and, with wings open, is easily identified from a distance. Second, even at close quarters, the row of blue spots on each hindwing can easily be overlooked. I have recorded a few examples of four clearly defined spots on each hindwing but often these are fewer in number, faded in colour and indistinct, needing the use of a magnifying lens or close-focus monocular to verify this aberration.

The Small Copper has, according to the results from the Suffolk Millennium Butterfly Survey, recently increased its breeding range and was recorded from 1995–1999 in just over half of the County’s 1088 2 km tetrads.

It has now been observed in Suffolk from March to November and merits a much closer study by recorders, to more accurately ascertain the true numbers and distribution of ab. cearuleopunctata Rühl within our county.

References Beaufoy, S. (1947). Butterfly Lives. Collins, London.

Emmet, M. & Heath, J. (1990). The butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol 7: 1. Harley Books, Colchester, Essex.

Mendel, H. & Piotrowski, S. H. (1986). The butterflies of Suffolk. Suffolk Nat. Soc., Ipswich.

Stewart. R. G. (1995). Observations of the Small Copper butterfly at Tangham, Autumn 1994. Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc., 31: 16–17.

Thomas, J. & Lewington, R. (1991). The butterflies of Britain and Ireland.

Dorling Kindersley, London.

Richard Stewart Suffolk Butterfly Recorder 112 Westerfield Road, Ipswich, Suffolk IP4 2XW

Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 37 (2001)

R. G. Stewart Plate 6: Aberrant Small Copper, ab. caeruleopunctata R端hl.