List of butterflies of Ireland

This is a list of Irish butterflies, past and present. Details on specific species are relevant to the Irish populations and some details may not be consistent with the species in other parts of its range.

Superfamily Hesperioidea

Family Hesperiidae (skippers)

Subfamily Hesperiinae (grass skippers)

• Essex skipper - Thymelicus lineola. County Wexford only. Origin uncertain.
• Small skipper - Thymelicus sylvestris. Confirmed in County Kildare in 2011 and 2012.

Subfamily Pyrginae (spread-winged skippers)

• Dingy skipper – Erynnis tages Mainly Midlands and West. The subspecies baynesi Huggins, 1956 is recorded from the Burren region of Co Clare and Galway. The populations elsewhere in Ireland are presumably the type subspecies.

Superfamily Papilionoidea

Family Pieridae (whites)

Subfamily Dismorphiinae

• Wood white – Leptidea sinapis Confined to the Burren area of Co. Clare (here sympatric with Leptidea reali
• Cryptic wood white - Leptidea juvernica stat. nov.^[1][2] All regions of Ireland. Not known in Britain.

Wood white

Subfamily Coliadinae

• Clouded yellow – Colias croceus Migrant.
• Brimstone – Gonepteryx rhamni. Burren and Midlands. The Irish subspecies is gravesi Huggins, 1956

Subfamily Pierinae

• Large white – Pieris brassicae
• Small white – Pieris rapae
• Green-veined white – Pieris napi. The subspecies britannica (Muller & Kautz, 1939) is only found in Ireland. The British subspecies is sabellicae (Stephens, 1827)
• Orange tip – Anthocharis cardamines. The Irish subspecies is hibernica (Williams, 1916)

Family Lycaenidae (gossamer-winged butterflies)

Green hairstreak

Subfamily Theclinae

• Green hairstreak – Callophrys rubi Scattered distribution.
• Brown hairstreak – Thecla betulae Restricted to Burren and surrounding region.
• Purple hairstreak – Neozephyrus quercus Restricted to a few woodland sites.

Subfamily Lycaeninae

Small copper

• Small copper – Lycaena phlaeas. The Irish subspecies is hibernica Goodson, 1948

Subfamily Polyommatinae

• Small blue – Cupido minimus Few regions. Restricted to coastal dunes, limestone grasslands and quarries.
• Common blue – Polyommatus icarus. The Irish subspecies is mariscolore (Kane, 1893)
• Holly blue – Celastrina argiolus More common in East and South.

Family Nymphalidae (brush-footed butterflies)

Subfamily Nymphalinae

• Red admiral – Vanessa atalanta resident reinforced by migrant populations.
• Painted lady – Vanessa cardui Migrant.
• Small tortoiseshell – Aglais urticae
• Peacock – Inachis io
• Comma – Polygonia c-album rare. Sightings on North and South-east coasts.

Red admiral peeping from behind a Hebe × franciscana

Subfamily Heliconiinae (longwings)

• Pearl-bordered fritillary – Boloria euphrosyne Only found in the Burren
• Dark green fritillary – Argynnis aglaja Coastal species also inland in the Burren and Wicklow
• Silver-washed fritillary – Argynnis paphia Scattered throughout Ireland, more common in southern regions.
• Marsh fritillary – Euphydryas aurinia infrasubspecies hibernica Birchall, 1873. Throughout Ireland but mainly Central and West Ireland.

Argynnis paphia mating

Subfamily Satyrinae (browns)

• Speckled wood – Pararge aegeria
• Wall – Lasiommata megera
• Grayling – Hipparchia semele. Coastal and limestone districts. The Irish subspecies are clarensis de Lattin, 1952 (County Clare) and hibernica Howarth, 1971
• Gatekeeper – Pyronia tithonus Restricted to South and South-East coasts.
• Meadow brown – Maniola jurtina. The Irish subspecies is iernes Graves, 1930
• Ringlet – Aphantopus hyperantus
• Small heath – Coenonympha pamphilus Scattered throughout Ireland.Prefers drier grassland on well-drained soils.
• Large heath – Coenonympha tullia Restricted to a few bogs.

Vagrant, adventive, extinct and intercepts and exotic species

Aglias urticae – small tortoiseshell

Extinct

• Small mountain ringlet – Erebia epiphron extinct ^[3]
• Large copper- Lycaena dispar introduced. extinct

Vagrants

Queen of Spain fritillary

• Pale clouded yellow – Colias hyale
• Berger's clouded yellow – Colias sareptensis^[4]
• Short-tailed blue – Cupido argiades (imported on fennel from Italy)
• Geranium bronze – Cacyreus marshalli (imported on geraniums)
• Camberwell beauty – Nymphalis antiopa
• Map – Araschnia levana (formerly introduced and bred)
• Queen of Spain fritillary – Issoria lathonia
• Monarch – Danaus plexippus
• American painted lady – Cynthia virginiensis
• Swallowtail – Papilio machaon

Exotics

See also

• List of moths of Ireland

References

• Emmet, A.M., J. Heath et al. (Ed.), 1990. The Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland. The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland Vol. 7 Part 1 (Hesperiidae to Nymphalidae). Harley Books, Colchester, UK. 370p.
• K. G. M. Bond, R. Nash and J. P. O’Connor, An Annotated Checklist of the Irish Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera)The Irish Biogeographical Society in association with The National Museum of Ireland, Dublin, 2006, 177 pp ISBN 0-9511514-9-5
• Harding, J. & Jacob, M. 2013 Addition of Small Skipper butterfly (Thymelicus sylvestris) to the Irish List and notes on the Essex Skipper (Thymelicus lineola) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae). Irish Naturalists' Journal 32: 142-144
• Mazel, R. 2001. Leptidea sinapis L., 1758 - L. reali Reissinger, 1989, le point de la situation (Lepidoptera: Pieridae, Dismorphiinae) Linneana Belgica 18: 199-202.
• Nash,D., T. Boyd and D Hardiman. 2012. Ireland's Butterflies A Review. The Dublin Naturalists' Field Club, Dublin. 272 pp ISBN 978-0-9530037-2-3
• Wilson, C. J., Goodwin, J. & Bond, K. 2007. New Irish record of the small skipper butterfly Thymelicus sylvestris (Poda) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae). Irish Naturalists’ Journal 28(9): 385-386).Erroneous and later corrected by the authors. Refers to Essex Skipper Thymelicus lineola.

Footnotes

1. Barkham, Patrick (13 July 2011). "New species of butterfly flying in Northern Ireland". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 October 2011.
2. Dincă, Vlad; Lukhtanov, Vladimir A.; Talavera, Gerard; Vila, Roger (30 April 2011). "Unexpected layers of cryptic diversity in wood white Leptidea butterflies" (PDF). Nature Communications. 2: 324. doi:10.1038/NCOMMS1329.
3. Peter Eeles The Irish Mountain Ringlet dispar online
4. "Berger's Clouded Yellow". Butterfly Conservation. Retrieved 18 October 2011.

External links

• Irish Butterflies
• Butterflies and Moths of Northern Ireland
• Butterfly Ireland
• NHM Images of Ireland forms and subspecies on this site. Type Ireland into the search box.
• Wexford Naturalists' Field Club Essex Skipper
• Regan, E.C., Nelson, B., Aldwell, B., Bertrand, C., Bond, K., Harding, J., Nash, D.,Nixon, D. and Wilson, C.J. Ireland Red List No. 4: Butterflies
• Database of Irish Lepidoptera.1 Macrohabitats, microsites and traits of Noctuidae and butterflies