Lycaena tityrus

Sooty Copper (Lycaena tityrus)

2024 photographs highlighted in yellow. Click on any photograph to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.


8503_male_Alpes-de-Haute-Provence_24Jul07	36797_male_Var_14Sep14	47472_male_Alpes-Maritimes_18Jul20	48467_male_Pyrénées-Orientales_14Jul21

17207_male_Alpes-Maritimes_04Jul09 - subalpinus	49500_male_Alpes-Maritimes_1Jul22	8511_female_Alpes-de-Haute-Provence_24Jul07	33277_female_Alpes-de-Haute-Provence_1Jul13

7371_female_Alpes-Maritimes_24Jun07 - subalpinus	47719_female_Haute-Savoie_26Jul20 - subalpinus	36805_male_Var_14Sep14	19022_male_Lozère_26Aug09

11808_male_Alpes-Maritimes_30Jun08 - subalpinus	26366_male_Alpes-Maritimes_06Jul11	14061_female_Var_28Aug08	33178_female_Alpes-de-Haute-Provence_30Jun13

17147_female_Alpes-Maritimes_03Jul09 - subalpinus

This species seems to be quite widespread, appearing in most localities I have visited in France, but not in great numbers. The female has the usual upperside copper markings, but the male is uniformly dark brown with some orange submarginal marks, with the upf black markings showing up clearly. The male underside often has a silvery-grey-white ground colour with a “square” corner at the hindwing anal angle, whereas the female is more rounded, with heavier, more orange markings.

A delightful little butterfly that seems quite easy to follow as it has a habit or returning to the same place. It has wide altitude range, from lowland areas, up to 2000m or more. At high altitudes in the Alpes, the dark, almost black, subspecies subalpinus predominates; this is true for both sexes.

ref	sex	observations	alt. m
8503	M	a fresh (perfect white margins) and fairly typical male of the nominate form, with slightly stronger than normal orange lunules especially on the upf.	700
36797	M	a male, fairly normal, the unusual feature being that it was seen in a lowland location (see the altitudes for other specimens) not far from the coast. In September 2013 I saw a rather worn female egg-laying there, the first time I had seen tityrus in this location that I had visited regularly over most of the past decade, and in a region where no sightings had been recorded within about 30km. 36805 is the underside.	20
47472	M	a male of the nominate form, slightly colder grey-brown than normal, but this may be due to ageing.	1000
48467	M	a male of the nominate form, with rather well-developed orange submarginal lunules, especially on the hindwing.	570
17207	M	*a male of the subspecies subalpinus.*	1875
49500	M	a really rather orange male upperside, very different to the norm for the nominate form of tityrus, but I cannot think it can be anything other than tityrus, and I think it has to be a male based on what can be seen of the body shape. In any event, it would be exceptionally dark for a female tityrus.	1000
8511	F	a typical, if slightly worn, female of the nominate form.	700
33277	F	a typical female, albeit not quite fresh.	1250
36805	M	a male, the underside of 36797.	20
7371	F	*a female upperside of the subspecies subalpinus, with slightly stronger than normal marginal markings, even a slight hint of orange, on both the upf and uph.*	2100
47719	F	a female of the rather extreme form of subalpinus. The margins are very heavy, especially on the hindwing, providing a very clear contrast. It also has a very grey ground colour. As such, it could easily be confused with the female of the Purple-edged Copper (L. hippothoe eurydame) but the pattern of the forewing spots points conclusively to tityrus.	1760
19022	M	a male of the nominate form.	480
11808	M	*a male of the subspecies subalpinus.*	2100
26366	M	a fresh male, the delicate beige ground colour contrasting nicely with the black markings and the submarginal orange band.	1000
14061	F	a typical female of the nominate form.	780
33178	F	a female underside, the unf being rather more orange than the norm.	1250
17147	F	*a female of the subspecies subalpinus, very fresh and with beautifully subtle colouring.*	1875