🦋 Fifty years of research. One remarkable butterfly.
The
#LargeBlue butterfly has a fascinating conservation story, and the latest issue of
#Antenna explores five decades of research into this extraordinary species.
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royensoc.co.uk/fifty-years-r…
ALT Close-up of an ant interacting with a small, hairy caterpillar on dry leaves in a natural outdoor setting.
Large blue butterfly larvae adoption by the ant, Myrmica sabuleti, on a Viola leaf shrivelled by extreme drought, July 1976. © Jeremy Thomas.
ALT The RES conservation team of David Simcox, Sarah Meredith and Sophie Mowbray monitoring a Large Blue site in the Cotswolds, recently colonised from Daneway Banks. © Paul Hackman.
ALT The Large Blue on its last British site, Dartmoor, where variation in natality and survival throughout every stage of its life cycle were measured annually in 1972–78. (a) Adult on Wild Thyme; the Dartmoor phenotype was small with large black wing markings. © Jeremy Thomas.