Small Tortoiseshell Aglais urticae

ab. lucida Fritsch 1913

The whole ground colour is lighter, the fox-red recedes and the straw-yellow comes up.

ab. lutea Raynor 1909

The upperside ground colour is buff.

ab. brunneoviolacea Raynor 1909

The upperside ground colour is brown-violet.

ab. brunneoviolacea Raynor 1909

The upperside ground colour is brown-violet.

ab. velata Turati 1919

The upperside ground colour is smokey, caused by a dusting of black scales, especially in the discal area.

ab. flavofasciata Debauche 1929

Upperside of the hindwings with the yellow apical patch extended as far as the anal angle, so creating a yellow fascia.

Interestingly, Debauche named the same form twice, his ochrea had the red median part of the hindwings entirely replaced by pale ochre-yellow.

ab. adumbrata Raynor 1909

The upper part of the transverse band of the upperside hindwings is clouded with black.

ab. adumbrata Raynor 1909 + ab. unipuncta Raynor 1909

A double aberration as follows.

ab. adumbrate :  The upper part of the transverse band of the upperside hindwings is clouded with black.

ab. unipuncta:     There is only one of the forewing twin discal spots present.

ab. infraradiata Raynor 1909

Upperside hindwings with the veins much blackened, forewings normal.

ab. angustibalteata Raynor 1909

The upperside hindwing transverse band is narrow.

ab. angustibalteata Raynor 1909 + basi-ichnusa Reuss 1910

A double aberration described as follows:

ab. angustibalteata:   The upperside hindwing transverse band is narrow.

ab. basi-ichnusa :         The basal portions of the forewings cloud up as in sub.species ichnusa, which has this clouding extended almost to the first black costal spot.

ab. albapicata Cabeau 1925

The forewing apical white patch on the costa is very extended and cut by black nervures

ab. flavotesselata Raynor 1909

Forewings with a pale yellow band developed from the costa down to the inner margin, enveloping the twin discal spots.

ab. ichnusioides de Selys 1837

The black spots on the forewings are only four in number as in the subspecies from Corsica, that is with the two discal twin spots absent.

ab. parvipuncta Raynor 1909

 The twin discal spots on the forewing very small.

ab. parvipuncta Raynor 1909  ab. adumbrata Raynor 1909

A double aberration as follows:

ab. parvipuncta:  The twin discal spots on the forewing very small

ab. adumbrata:  The upper part of the transverse band of the hindwings is clouded with black.

 ab. parvipuncta Raynor 1909  ab. parvilunulata ??

A double aberration as follows:

ab. parvipuncta:  The twin discal spots on the forewing very small

ab. parvilunulata:  The upper part of the transverse band of the hindwings is clouded with black.

ab. magnipuncta Raynor 1909

The twin discal spots on the forewing are very large.

ab. tripuncta Raynor 1909

The forewings have three discal spots instead of two.

ab. strigata Raynor 1909

A black streak situated in the centre of the forewings between the black costal spot and the black blotch on the inner margin.

The horizontal streak would seem to be the first stage of what is often called ab. polaris. a Polar sub.species which has a blackish cloudy connecting the black costal spot with that on the inner margin

ab.nubilata Raynor 1909

There is a blackish cloudy area between the second black costal spot and the black spot on the inner margin.

According to the literature ab. nubilata can be wrongly named ab. polaris. I can not find any reference to the latter.

ab. pseudoconnexa  Cabeau 1927 + ab. semiichnusoides Pronin 1928

A very nice double aberration described below.

ab. pseudoconnexa:     Forewings with the central black costal spot joined to the black spot on the inner margin by a black band formed by a thick powdering of scales. Very similar to sub.species connexa from Japan

ab. semiichnusoides :  Forewings with the two uppermost costal spots united into a black blotch. The twin discal spots are absent and there are no blue marginal lunules.

On the hindwings the black is extended to the margins, covering the usual fulvous transverse band, except for a small area at the anal angle. The margins have normal blue lunules.

ab. magninotata Raynor 1909

The black spot on the inner margin of the forewings is very large.

ab. parvinotata Raynor 1909

The black spot on the inner margin is small.

ab. griseomarginata Raynor 1909

The outer margins edged in grey

ab. magnilunulata Raynor 1909

The hindwings have very large blue lunules.

ab. bolandii Lambillion 1907

The blue lunules in the margin extend into streaks, especially on the forewings, traversing the width of the border which is very broad and black, and advances into the fulvous ground colour.

trans ab. leodiensis Cabeau 1927

This pecimen is just showing the characteristics of the following description:

On the forewing the second and third costal spots are fused into one, and no yellow spaces on the costa. The twin discal spots are very faint or absent and there are no blue lunules in the margin.

Hindwings are without the yellow patch near the apex or upper part of the fulvous band.

ab. seminigra Frohawk 1938

The two upper costal spots united into one, the twin discal spots absent and the blue marginal lunules reduced to three.

Hindwings with the upper part of the fulvous band clouded over instead of showing a pale patch, and with blue lunules.

Hardly separable from the preceding ab. leondiensis but shows some blue lunules in the margin of the forewing, which are said to be lacking in ab. leondiensis.

trans ab. lucia Derenne 1926

This particular specimen is part way to the following description.

Forewings with the yellow patches between the two upper costal spots dusted over and appearing greyish. The twin discal spots are absent and the margins black, hardly showing any blue lunules.

The hindwings are black with a trace of fulvous in the middle, again the blue lunules are hardly noticeable

ab. lucia Derenne 1926

Forewings with the yellow patches between the two upper costal spots dusted over and appearing greyish. The twin discal spots are absent and the margins black, hardly showing any blue lunules.

The hindwings are black with a trace of fulvous in the middle, again the blue lunules are hardly noticeable.

ab. atrebatensis Boisduval 1873

Forewings with the two upperside costal spots more or less joined by a suffusion of black scales, blotting out the normal yellow space. The twin discal spots are absent and the marginal black band narrow with small blue spots.

The hindwings are black-brown and showing a discal series of pale brown spots some distance before the margin which is blacker than the rest of the wing and narrow with a full row of small blue spots.

ab. conjuncta Neuberg 1905

This is very similar to ab. atrebatensis Bsd but all three of the costal spots are joined.

ab. conjuncta Neuberg 1905

This is very similar to ab. atrebatensis Bsd but all three of the costal spots are joined.

ab. semiichnusoides Pronin 1928

Forewings with the two uppermost costal spots united into a black blotch. The twin discal spots are absent and there are no blue marginal lunules.

On the hindwings the black is extended to the margins, covering the usual fulvous transverse band, except for a small area at the anal angle. The margins have normal blue lunules.

ab. nigricaria  Lambillion 1902

On the forewings the two uppermost black costal spots are united into one bar, and the twin discal spots are absent.

The hindwings are all black with no blue lunules, but with streaks of fawn at the margins.

trans ab. nigra Tutt 1896

A transitional form leading to Tutt's description below.

Tutt's original description states that the hindwings are sometimes entirely black. He does not mention the forewings, so it is assumed that they were most probably normal.

ab. nigra Tutt 1896

Tutt's original description states that the hindwings are sometimes entirely black. He does not mention the forewings, so it is assumed that they were most probably normal.

I have included several different specimens that fit the description

ab. nigra Tutt 1896

Tutt's original description states that the hindwings are sometimes entirely black. He does not mention the forewings, so it is assumed that they were most probably normal.

I have included several different specimens that fit the description

ab. urticoides Fisher 1881

This is the name given to small specimens, I would assume they would have to be at least 2/3 rds. normal size.

No actual size is given in the original description

ab. subtuslactea Raynor 1909

In these specimens the pale areas on the underside are creamy instead of ochreous.

ab. subtusbrunnescens Groenondijk 1966

The underside of the forewings with the area from the apex to, and including, the third costal spot, almost a unicolourous brown with small deep brown striae.

This same colour is shown on the underside of the hindwings, consequently there is hardly any contrast between the lighter submarginal band and the dark parts 

ab. subtusnigrescens Lempke 1956

The underside of the hindwings almost a unicolourous black.

ab. nov

This specimen shows an irregular pattern on the right forewing costal spots, they are quit streaked compared to the left side.

ab. nov

An undescribed variation.

ab. nov

An undescribed variation.