About the Book

by Peter Eeles

How the Book Came About

The book is the culmination of a journey that started when I found a ‘woolly bear’ Garden Tiger moth caterpillar in my garden at the age of eight and reared it through to adulthood. Watching the adult moth emerge from its pupa and expand its wings had a huge effect on me and I’ve been absolutely fascinated with the immature stages of our Lepidoptera ever since. It should perhaps not be surprising that the book, my first on a natural history topic, is focused on the butterfly life cycle.

Inspiration

There are several books that have motivated me in my studies over the years, but there is one that I hold very dear since it was the original inspiration for this book. That work is the two-volume masterpiece Natural History of British Butterflies by Frederick W. Frohawk. It took Frohawk 24 years to document all of the immature stages of the butterflies of Britain and Ireland, including all larval instars, in his seminal work that was ultimately published in 1924 (it was originally available in 1914, but its publication was delayed due to the onset of war). One of the drawbacks of Frohawk’s work is that all illustrations are drawn life size, making it difficult, for example, to distinguish one early instar larva from another. With advances in technology, and especially the growing number of butterfly photographers and images, I felt it was time to build on Frohawk’s work and the result is Life Cycles of British and Irish Butterflies.

However, the book should not be seen as a replacement for Frohawk’s work, whose extensive descriptions of each of the larval instars, in particular, have stood the test of time. Rather, the book is my attempt at complementing Frohawk’s work with images that were unavailable to him, and to also introduce more recent findings. There have been many discoveries since 1924, with hundreds of books and thousands of papers written, the latter magnified by the increasing awareness of species ecology and the importance of conservation. It is therefore not surprising that an army of individuals has both provided inspiration and given more direct assistance in the creation of the book.

One inspiration has been the fascinating insights provided by members of the UK Butterflies community, where some members have undertaken detailed studies that have contributed to our collective understanding of the immature stages in particular. Of the many members that have contributed, it is the studies undertaken by Vince Massimo that have really inspired me, and I’m pleased to say that Vince, along with my good friend Mark Colvin FRES, has provided feedback on every species description as it was written.

Butterflies are infinitely fascinating – what may start as a simple hobby of photographing the adult insects can evolve into a deep interest in their ecology and conservation, a journey that I am happy to say that I’ve experienced myself and that has given me so much enjoyment over the years. I hope the book will provide inspiration to others looking to follow a similar path.

Scope of the Book

The book contains detailed descriptions of the life cycles of the 59 butterfly species that are considered resident or regular migrants to Britain and Ireland. It also includes every stage, resulting in 236 (59 species x 4 stages) subjects. If that weren’t enough, I decided to follow Frohawk by including every larval instar of every species. Take it from me that the total number of subjects is 468. That’s a lot of subjects and, for me at least, a lot of enjoyment to be had from studying every single one of them.

Since the book is focused on those species that the enthusiast is most likely to encounter, it does not discuss scarce migrants (American Painted Lady, Bath White, Berger’s Clouded Yellow, Camberwell Beauty, Large Tortoiseshell, Long-tailed Blue, Monarch, Pale Clouded Yellow, Queen of Spain Fritillary, Scarce Tortoiseshell and Short-tailed Blue) or extinctions (Black-veined White, Large Copper and Mazarine Blue).

Despite the relative paucity of species found in Britain and Ireland (having just 59 of the 18,000 or so species found worldwide), I believe that getting to know these species in terms of their structure, behaviour and general ecology will provide a solid foundation that can be applied anywhere in the world. Specifically, there are six butterfly families in total (Hesperiidae, Papilionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae, Riodinidae and Lycaenidae) and we have representatives of each in Britain and Ireland. If we consider subfamilies then approximately 50% are represented. In essence, the species that we do have represent an incredibly diverse set and there is much enjoyment to be had in getting to know each of the families and subfamilies, as well as each species. Those wanting a detailed description of butterfly families, subfamilies, tribes and genera can do no better than to read Butterflies of the World by Adrian Hoskins.

Why is the Subject of the Book Relevant?

This may sound like a strange question, but is one that I needed to answer first and foremost before investing the significant amount of time needed to write Life Cycles of British and Irish Butterflies. How was the book going to make a positive difference?

Recent years have seen an increase in the number of studies that focus on climate change and the impact that it is having on the natural world. One study in particular caught my eye since it was focused on a butterfly life cycle – specifically, that of the Wall – a species that has been in worrying decline for some time. The authors of that study, Professor Hans Van Dyck of Louvain University and Dr. Dirk Maes of the Flemish Research Institute for Nature and Forest, suggest that the Wall has fallen victim to a ‘developmental trap’. They suggested that climate change has resulted in the Wall producing an increasingly frequent and larger third brood, late in the year, when there is insufficient time for larvae to reach their third overwintering instar, with the larvae subsequently perishing.

What intrigued me was the need to identify a particular instar – it’s sometimes hard enough to identify the species of a given larva let alone the instar. It then struck me that any guidance that could be provided to help identify the larval instar of a given species would potentially benefit conservation efforts, especially in terms of understanding the impact of climate change on our butterfly populations. Confirmation that the book was worth writing came when I presented a ‘poster paper’ entitled ‘Assisting Conservation Efforts through an Improved Understanding of the Morphology of the Larval Instars of the Butterflies of Britain and Ireland’ at Butterfly Conservation’s eighth international symposium in April 2018 in Southampton. I didn’t win any prizes for having the longest session title, but I did get very positive feedback from delegates that was a huge inspiration in terms of ensuring that the book saw the light of day.

Specification

Size: 170 x 240 mm
Binding: Hardback
Pages: 400

Contents Listing

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Papilionidae

Swallowtail (Papilio machaon)

Hesperiidae

Dingy Skipper (Erynnis tages)
Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus malvae)
Chequered Skipper (Carterocephalus palaemon)
Essex Skipper (Thymelicus lineola)
Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris)
Lulworth Skipper (Thymelicus acteon)
Silver-spotted Skipper (Hesperia comma)
Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus)

Pieridae

Wood White (Leptidea sinapis)
Cryptic Wood White (Leptidea juvernica)
Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines)
Large White (Pieris brassicae)
Small White (Pieris rapae)
Green-veined White (Pieris napi)
Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus)
Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni)

Nymphalidae

Wall (Lasiommata megera)
Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
Large Heath (Coenonympha tullia)
Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus)
Mountain Ringlet (Erebia epiphron)
Scotch Argus (Erebia aethiops)
Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)
Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus)
Marbled White (Melanargia galathea)
Grayling (Hipparchia semele)
Pearl-bordered Fritillary (Boloria euphrosyne)
Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene)
Silver-washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia)
Dark Green Fritillary (Argynnis aglaja)
High Brown Fritillary (Argynnis adippe)
White Admiral (Limenitis camilla)
Purple Emperor (Apatura iris)
Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)
Peacock (Aglais io)
Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)
Comma (Polygonia c-album)
Marsh Fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia)
Glanville Fritillary (Melitaea cinxia)
Heath Fritillary (Melitaea athalia)

Riodinidae

Duke of Burgundy (Hamearis lucina)

Lycaenidae

Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas)
Brown Hairstreak (Thecla betulae)
Purple Hairstreak (Favonius quercus)
Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi)
White-letter Hairstreak (Satyrium w-album)
Black Hairstreak (Satyrium pruni)
Small Blue (Cupido minimus)
Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus)
Large Blue (Maculinea arion)
Silver-studded Blue (Plebejus argus)
Brown Argus (Aricia agestis)
Northern Brown Argus (Aricia artaxerxes)
Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus)
Adonis Blue (Polyommatus bellargus)
Chalk Hill Blue (Polyommatus coridon)

Bibliography