Mating pair of CLB

[horace2264]

Encountered a mating pair of common line blue (pic 1 and 2) at BTNR.
In pic 1, I suppose the upper butt which is smaller and doing the carrying work is male. It is interesting to note the big contrast in coloration and relative thickness of the ochreous stripes between the two sexes.

Horace

[Sky Blue]

very good shots horace, that really show the different of male / female of this species

[Peacock Royal]

Love that 2nd shot.
Good capture.

[horace2264]

Thanks, Soon Chye and Federick.
Seeing the difference between the two sexes of CLB close-up definitely beats looking at the plate picture of the two sexes (which can be found at http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~EY4Y-TKN...tas-Phil.html).

Horace

[Common Mime]

Yes Horace! Thanks for sharing this picture.

[The Monarch]

Looks like the male needs a shave...

[Cigaritis wong]

Nice pix, prefer the 1st one but a bit underexposed.

OT: You mentioned the one doing the carrying work is the male. Does it apply for all butts?

OT again: For Tawny Costers, is the smaller butt a male or a female? The smaller one I observed is not so pretty as the colorations are patchy with oil-liked stains.

[Common Mime]

not so pretty as the colorations are patchy with oil-liked stains.

Hi Wong, that's the female TC.

[horace2264]

Nice pix, prefer the 1st one but a bit underexposed.

OT: You mentioned the one doing the carrying work is the male. Does it apply for all butts?

Thanks, Wong.

About your OT: From what I gather from the few species I have come across with mating pairs flying around, it has been the case that the male does the carrying work. However, being a non-expert, I cannot generalize this observation to all butts. May be the experts can comment on this.

Horace