The Comma butterfly is instantly recognisable by its "ragged" wing outline.
Freshly-emerged, early season Comma (yellow spots in orange border).
April colouring (form hutchinsoni).
Late season Comma (orange background in black border), July-August.
The side view shows the white "comma" mark that gives the butterfly its name.
The new generation that will complete its life cycle in the same year has a lighter underside wing
and those that are destined to hibernate through the winter and fly the following year are darker; both well-camouflaged
as a dead leaf. Males have a more variegated underside and females a plainer one.
The Comma is native to much of Eurasia from Western Europe to China in the east and to North Africa.
The Southern Comma prevalent in Mediterranean Europe is less-patterned with fewer spots and
less-angular wings. The white mark on the underside is more like a Y than a comma.