The Comma butterfly has a wing span of 44-50 mm. It is characterized by its serrated wings and the white C. The specimen that develops early June are light (form: hutchinsoni). It flies late June till late September, and after overwintering from March till June.
The Comma butterfly lives in glades, edges of woods, thicket, parks and gardens with stinging nettle, hor or or elm. It overwinters as grown butterfly among branches and leaves . The caterpillar's foderplants: nettle (Urtica) hop (Humulus) and elm (Ulmus).
The flight is quick as lightning. It seeks to various flowers and to overripe windfalls.
Before the 1990s it was rare and appeared in singles, but in periods more frequent. Since the beginning of the 1990s it is frequent in many places in Denmark , possibly influenced by immigrants from Sweden ,where the Comma butterfly is common.
Source: Michael Stoltze, Dagsommerfugle i Danmark, 1998.
See Comma Butterfly in England and other countries.
photo Mindeparken Århus, 25 September 2010: grethe bachmann
