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Suffolk Natural History, Vol. 39
The Small Copper ab. caeruleopunctata Ruhl. and ab. fuscae Robsn. in Suffolk I recently came across a diary of my butterfly and moth observations for the period 1942–1945. In the light of Richard Stewart’s article about varieties of the Small Copper, it is possibly worth putting the following on record: ab. caeruleopunctata at Gammer’s sandpit, Stowmarket, in 1942 at Onehouse in August 1943 along the Low Road, Framlingham, on 8 July 1943. All the above were singletons. I should also correct a record from 1948: ab. fuscae Robsn. At ragwort flowers in Long’s Meadow, Stowmarket, on 30 August 1948. I originally recorded this specimen as var. suffusa. Although this species is extremely variable, it is evident that few varieties have come my way! References Aston, A. E. (1948). Macrolepidoptera of 1948. Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc., 6: 248. Stewart, R. (2001). The Small Copper ab. caeruleopunctata Ruhl. in Suffolk, 1983–2000. Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc., 37: 89–90. Alasdair Aston Wake’s Cottage, Selborne, Hampshire GU34 3JH.
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 39 (2003)