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Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Friday, August 06, 2010

ONE SWALLOWTAIL DOESN'T MAKE A SUMMER

Yesterday on the news blog Gavin posted a story about the apparent comeback being made by Britain's largest butterfly Papilio machaon the Swallowtail. The butterflies seen in East Anglia are of the British subspecies, P.m. britannicus, (left top) whereas the common European subspecies P.m.gorganus (left, below) is only known in the UK from rare vagrants blown over from Europe. At least that is the generally accepted state of affairs.

However, evidence from engravings from old books, and vintage butterfly collections says that the butterflies which were once found in Kent and around London within historical times, were actually P.m.gorganus, which is mildly interesting but also seds light on another British lepidopterical (if that is a word) mystery.



The British subspecies of the large blue (Lycaena dispar dispar) became extinct in the mid 19th Century, and reintroduction attempts have been of the Dutch subspecies L.d.batava or the Eastern European subspecies L.d.rutilus. Material from 18th Century butterfly collections suggests that the so-called British subspecies was not the only subspecies that once lived in Britain. This is a tantalising thought. If so-called foreign subspecies once lived in Britain, could the so-called British subspecies have lived on continental Europe as well? And, if so, is there any possibility that it has survived?

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