Argynnis pandora or Cardinal

The Cardinal is, apart from the Old World Swallowtail and the Scarce Swallowtail, one of the most eye-catching butterflies that fly around at ´El Paraje´ at the moment. This butterfly - ´pandora´ in Spanish and ´keizersmantel´ in Dutch – has two scientific names, Pandoriana pandora and Argynnis pandora. It is a large butterfly which seems to be more restless and faster than many others. For a few days we have been trying to take a picture of this beauty with orange upperwings, but it never sat still quite long enough. While following their behaviour this morning, we saw that a pair started mating in the foliage of one of our almond trees, which enabled us to take this photograph.
 

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