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Welcome to Daves Moth and Butterfly World -
Species Name: Comma  Butterfly
Form: Hutchinsoni (Hutchinson's Comma)

Welcome to Dave McCormick's Moth and Butterfly World. Here is information the Comma (Polygonia c-album). Hear Scientific Name Sound

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Information

The Comma (Polygonia c-album) form Hutchinsoni is found wherever the comma is found. Its Comma adults seen in June and the first half of July are typically this form. It is presumed that caterpillars developing in the longer day lengths of summer cause this form to occur.

This form was discovered by Mrs Emma Hutchinson during the later half of the 19th century. She was known to send large numbers of caterpillars to other areas of Britain to halt the Commas decline when it was at a bad period and she even stopped the hop burning that killed many of the comma caterpillars by bribing the workers who worked in hop fields to go out and collect as many caterpillars and pupae they could find so she could look after them until they became adults.

The typical habitat for this second generation is usually open woodland, woodland edges and can even be seen in parks, orchards and gardens.

Similar Species

Southern Comma (Polygonia egea), Milbert's Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis milberti), Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis), Hoary Comma (Polygonia gracilis), Asian Comma (Polygonia c-aureum), Scarce Tortoiseshell or Yellow-Legged Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis xanthomelas), Green Comma (Polygonia faunus)

Known Aberrations

ab. carbonaria, ab. c-extinctum, ab. delta-album, ab. dilutus, ab. extincta, ab. g-album, ab. i-album, ab. imperfecta, ab. iota-album, ab. neole, ab. nigracastanea, ab. o-album, ab. obscura, ab. reichstettensis, ab. sagitta-album, ab. suffusa, ab. variegata, Few unnamed abs

Adult Images

The Comma has a wingspan of 50-64mm. This butterfly when resting looks like a dead leaf. It has a white "C" mark on the underside of the lower wing, which gives it the name Comma. This mark is there to resemble a hole in a leaf.

This form that develops directly to sexual maturation has lighter colured wing undersides. Both forms can arise from eggs laid by the same female, depending mainly on the photoperiods experienced by the caterpillar, but also with an influence of host plants, temperature and sex of individuals.

Adult Images
Image/Page Link Date Taken  Taken By
Comma early instar caterpillar

Information  

Location: Mountstewart, Co Down, Northern Ireland.

I bred this from caterpillars I had. This one hatched out in August, but it did have the lighter markings of a Hutchinsoni form. This shows the underside. It was feeding on some ox-eye daisies. I took this with my Canon 400D and Sigma 105mm Macro Lens 18/08/2008

 		 18/08/2008 David McCormick

Mating Images

None

Caterpillar Images

The caterpillars will feed up on hops, and they will also eat stinging nettle, elm or currant leaves, and in other parts of its distribution (e.g. in Sweden) also sallow and birch leaves.

Pupae Images

The pupae is marbled in shades of brown, decorated with small silver and gold markings.

Forms Pages

None

Subspecies Pages

None

Aberrations

None

Videos Pages

None

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma_butterfly - Wikipedia

The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 7 Part 1 (Hepialidae to Nymphalidae) - (c) A. Maitland Emmet and John Heath

The Butterflies and Moths of Northern Ireland - (c) 2006, Robert Thompson, Brian Nelson 

Page last edited: 31/08/2009 18:08

(c) David McCormick 2009