SIGHTINGS OF an exotic butterfly called the Comma, which is not native to Ireland, have been increasing in recent years and experts believe it will soon establish itself here.
The Comma gets its name from a white mark shaped like a comma on its underwing. It also has ragged wings.
According to a report in the current edition of Irish Wildlife magazine, the journal of the Irish Wildlife Trust, sightings of the butterfly have been recorded since 1995. So far this year, there have been sightings in four locations, one as late as August. The Comma, common in the south of England and most of continental Europe, is not a migratory butterfly. It is a sedentary species that spreads incrementally from established colonies.
“For one to cross the Irish Sea without drowning is akin to Columbus making dry land in the Caribbean,” said the report.
“As yet there is no proof of the Comma breeding in Ireland, but there has been a case of probable overwintering in Wexford, the county that has seen most records,” the report said.
“After three were seen at the Raven Nature Reserve in July 2007, two very early Commas appeared there on March 26th this year.
“These are most likely the result of emergence from pupae rather than migration,” it stated.
The Comma has expanded its breeding range in Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Russia and Slovenia in the past 25 years, the report added.