Another "Bog Hill" special. Weather conditions got less and less ideal throughout this field trip, with weak to strong winds, partly cloudy to overcast, and temperatures of just 20°C (10:34 AM).
I was forced to make my way across the quite thorny hill and thus collected more bleeding scratches than individual species. On the other hand, not only was I faced with both Thymelicus lineola and sylvestris individuals with varying coloring, with some individuals sharing aspects of each other's sister species (i.e. lineola with one orange antenna tip; one sylvestris with the scent scales of a typical lineola), one Melitaea sp. is giving me a headache.
Its size was comparable to that of an average M. athalia which has been observed in previous years. Its palpus, which widely is considered to be an unreliable diagnosis criteria, was was orange and the colors of its underwings more rich in contrast than those of the last M. athalia I saw last year. Given its medium size, I would exclude M. aurelia that usually is much much smaller than both athalia and britomartis. Deductive diagnosis based on data from areas nearby is virtually impossible – not due to the lack of data but data that has been quietly changed throughout the years because even consultants and professional lepidopterologists cannot tell them apart reliably and, especially among some German lepiopterologists, tend to still rely on the analysis of male genitalia in spite of the indistinguishable female genitals of each species (athalia, aurelia and britomartis), thus indicating a species complex rather than three individual species. Most specialists, however, base their diagnosis on the colors of the palpus, most of time without any photographic evidence and thus effectively providing junk data.
Also taking into account that individuals of M. jurtina no longer are as light in color as those listed in most German books and rather resemble darker individuals from the UK (one even shared the colors and eyes of the long-extinct H. lycaon), my adult may as well just be another M. athalia. To be on the safer side and avoid the contribution of potential junk data, any possible athalia, aurelia and britomartis will now be summarized under the species complex name "Melitaea athalia spc.". Photographic evidence will be shared on my private profile on Vernissage which can be followed by any account hosted on the Fediverse.