Speckled Wood

The Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) is a butterfly establish in and on the borders of woodland throughout a great deal of Europe. The speckled wood too occurs in North Africa and on the Atlantic island of Madeira. Molecular studies (Weingarter, Wahlberg & Nylin, 2006) propose that the African and Madeiran populations are closely connected and distinct from European populations of together subspecies, suggesting that Madeira was occupied from Africa and that the African population has an extended history of isolation from European populations.

Females contain brighter and more separate markings than males. The wingspan of both males and females is 4 - 4.5 cm, though males tend to be slightly smaller than females. Males are highly territorial and will protect their territory against intruding males. Some males will energetically defend a perch and the immediate surroundings, to come for females to pass by. Others will patrol a larger country.

Males have also 3 or 4 upper hind wing eyespots. The fourth spot shows only in flight. It appears that the 4-spotted morph tends towards patrolling behavior to finds mates. This agrees with the likely function of the eyespots to entice predators like birds to aspire for the wing margin (which may be damaged without much affecting the butterfly) father than the body. On the other hand, habitat is it seems that a major factor influencing mate-finding strategy: perching behavior is more ordinary in males of conifer woodland, whereas males of meadows tend towards patrolling actions.