Butterfly Identification Help!

[OverWyreGrower]

I saw (but didn't manage a picture of) what I think is an unusual butterfly yesterday...

Not more than 2cm long, vivid red underside to wings (solid colour) and mostly black topside to wings with some streaks of red on....

Any ideas anyone?

[Jeanied]

Do you think it was a cinnabar moth?

[Nicos]

Not a moth???...We get different Tiger moths here- and they have red bellies..have a look at the moth id chart...

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[OverWyreGrower]

Oohhh, yes, that's it!!

How odd, it was out and about in the middle of the day, which is why I thought it was a butterfly!

[Two_Sheds]

Not all moths are nocturnal

[Sheikh Yerboutti]

Yes ,there are a few beautifull day flight moths. The cinnabar has the orange/black stripped caterpillars that eat ragwort, The Garden Tiger and Jersey Tiger are probably the finest looking moths and everyone thinks they must be butterflys. I used to see cinnabars every summer down here, but not the last couple seasons.

[burnie]

Ragwort is extremely poisonous to horses,so the horsey set have set about trying to exterminate ragwort from anywhere in britain.I think they tried to get a law passed to make it illegal to have ragwort on your land.Sadly,as usual no one thinks about the consequences of such actions and the cinnabar does seem to be in a rapid decline.

[SueA]

We get the odd cinnabar moth & similar burnet moths but I don't think I've ever seen a tiger moth in our garden. We do get a few very pretty magpie moths though & a couple of years ago we used to get hummingbird hawkmoths which are spectacular but haven't seen any the last few summers.Photos of hummingbird hawkmoth & magpie moth in our garden & cinnabar on Hilbre Island.

[WrexTheDragon]

We have Burnet Moths and they fly during the day. Sometimes you can see them hovering in pairs.

[HeyWayne]

Bizarrely I saw what I now know to be a cinnabar moth just the other day too.

Striking aren't they?

[Botanist]

Ragwort is extremely poisonous to horses,so the horsey set have set about trying to exterminate ragwort from anywhere in britain.I think they tried to get a law passed to make it illegal to have ragwort on your land.Sadly,as usual no one thinks about the consequences of such actions and the cinnabar does seem to be in a rapid decline.

Actually, if you look at the statistics and the science on this, Ragwort actually isn't that extremely poisonous. Poisoning is rare. Unfortunately there has been a campaign of misinformation about the plant and a great deal of unwarranted panic. You are right that they tried to get a law passed like that.

Worse than that, and an indication of the level of ignorance, they tried in Scotland to get a law banning all poisonous plants. Poisonous plants include oak trees and bluebells for example. Animals know instinctively which plants to avoid and ragwort is no exception.

See the following websites.

Ragwort Facts
Ragwort the sense and the nonsense
and specifically
Ragwort and the cinnabar moth.

[WrexTheDragon]

And because everyman and his dog has been pulling ragwort, the cinnabar moth is an endangered species.

Ragwort supports 30 species of insect and 14 fungi.

Next they will order us to pull up all our daffidil bulbs.

[gojiberry]

I believe that all butterflies fold their wings up into the upright position and all moths out to the side in the horizontal.

Ian

[BFG]

Sheikh, re your signature. You ARE supposed to cut down nettles in summer. They then regrow nice young tasty shoots for the next batch of caterpillars.

[Botanist]

I believe that all butterflies fold their wings up into the upright position and all moths out to the side in the horizontal.

Ian

Generally that is the case and it is one of the best ways of telling them apart
but unfortunately there are exceptions. The standard distinction is that moths have an apparatus that links the hind and forewings together.

Unfortunately there is still one exception . The males of the Australian Regent Skipper butterfly has this apparatus too.