Heteronympha merope

17 Common Brown Butterfly at Acton, ACT

Heteronympha merope at Acton, ACT - 23 Jan 2022
Heteronympha merope at Acton, ACT - 23 Jan 2022
Heteronympha merope at Acton, ACT - 23 Jan 2022
Heteronympha merope at Acton, ACT - 23 Jan 2022
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Identification history

Heteronympha merope 3 Feb 2022 SuziBond
Unidentified 23 Jan 2022 HelenCross

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Significant sighting

SuziBond noted:

3 Feb 2022

Rarely observed colour aberration

User's notes

Leucistic or faded?

6 comments

ibaird wrote:
   23 Jan 2022
Shouldered Brown?
   23 Jan 2022
Wow, that's very interesting. Most of the male Common Browns I'm seeing are faded and tattered, but none look like that.
SuziBond wrote:
   3 Feb 2022
Incredible photo Helen. I passed this onto Ted Edwards for more information on what is going on here, and he has the following comments for you:

WOW. Wonderful H. merope male aberration. Complete failure of the melanin pigment pathway. I have never seen anything like it before. There are pictures of such things in Europe but none before this in Oz.
HelenCross wrote:
   3 Feb 2022
Wow!
ibaird wrote:
   3 Feb 2022
A great find.
HelenCross wrote:
   3 Feb 2022
Would this be called leucistic?

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