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Hecate.


Hecate.
Photo Information
Copyright: Peter Stoeckl (peter_stoeckl) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1738 W: 291 N: 4005] (11530)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2009-06-11
Categories: Insects
Exposure: f/4, 1/250 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Theme(s): Vienna Woods - Biosphaerenpark Wienerwald [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2013-06-26 14:42
Viewed: 3835
Points: 42
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Brenthis hecate (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775)

Saumfleck-Perlmutterfalter, Twin-spot Fritillary, Nacré de la Filipendule, Hechicera, Ecate, Perlovec dvojradový, Çift Noktalı Brentis, Barna gyöngyöházlepke, …

Family: Nymphalidae
Subfamily: Heliconiinae

Wing span: 42 – 45 mm

Hecate (ancient Greek: Ἑκάτη) is the name of an ancient goddess of magic and sorcery, one of the main goddesses worshipped in ancient Athenian households for being a powerful protector of a family’s well being.

Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller, teachers at the Theresianum military academy in Vienna, showed a favour for Greek mythology when giving names to the numerous findings from their research on butterflies and moths of the Vienna region in the late 18th century. A good number of less common European butterflies have been scientifically described for the first time from that area by those two authors in 1775, and so they are today still bearing the poetic names given by them (e.g. Z. polyxena, H. alcyone, A. arethusa, E. medusa, L. helle, P. damon, M. alcon, A. agestis, P. dorylas, A. ilia, M. phoebe, A. pandora, A. adippe, P. daphnis, B. selene, B. daphne, B. hecate, …).

After two and a half centuries, a few of those species have disappeared from the area of their discovery and first description. But most of them are still there, some of them now rare and endangered, however, such as Brenthis hecate.

Today, B. hecate may be found living in scattered colonies in mountain areas of Spain, Southern France, Northern Italy, Gran Sasso, Lower Austria, the Balkans, Turkey, Iran, Southern Russia, Southern Siberia. The butterflies may be seen flying in one generation from late May into July.

The species inhabits dry flowery meadows at woodland margins from the lowlands up to 1,500 metres, where the caterpillars‘ feeding plant Filipendula sp. is growing safely undisturbed from greedy premature cutting. During the last decades, most of those extensively cultivated habitats have either been given up, turning into scrubs and forests, or their cultivation was intensified by harvesting hay several times a year – both resulting in a dramatic reduction of biodiversity, bringing many of its former inhabitants to the edge of extinction.

The extended belt of Vienna Woods around the capital of Austria has preserved a few meadows housing some isolated colonies of Brenthis hecate, and much care is taken now to preserve those habitats for future generations within the recently established „Biosphärenpark Wienerwald“.

The location of observation reported here is meadows in decidous forests on limestone hills at an elevation of 500m a.s.l.

Brenthis hecate, the upper side.

Literature:
- Michael Denis, Ignaz Schiffermüller: Systematisches Verzeichniss der Schmetterlinge der Wienergegend herausgegeben von einigen Lehrern am k.k. Theresianum. Wien 1776.
- H. Höttinger, M. Pendl, M. Wiemers, A. Pospisil: Insekten in Wien – Tagfalter. Wien 2013.
- Christian Stettmer, Markus Bräu, Patrick Gros, Otmar Wanninger: Die Tagfalter Bayerns und Österreichs, Laufen/Salzach 2007
- Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: Collins Butterfly Guide, London 2008
- Christopher Jonko: Butterflies and Moths of Europe. http://www.lepidoptera.pl/
- http://www.lepiforum.de/lepiwiki.pl?Brenthis_Hecate

The camera:
SONY DSC-H5, 3456 x 2592 pixels, sRGB, 16 mm macro zoom (equivalent 80 mm at full size SLR), F/4, 1/250sec., ISO-125, bias -0.3, hand held, no flash. 11.06.2009, 17:58.

Postwork:
Adobe Photoshop CS4, cropped, downsized to web, selectively resharpened, levels slighty adjusted.

Thank you for having a look at a goddess of magic.
Have a very good day.

*
lousat, chrimakris, Silvio2006, ramthakur, KOMSIS, Hotelcalifornia, anel, Miss_Piggy, Alex99, Hormon_Manyer, bungbing has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To anel: Herzliche Grüße aus Wienpeter_stoeckl 1 06-27 14:36
To lousat: a bit oversharpenedpeter_stoeckl 1 06-27 14:30
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Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • PeterZ Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5137 W: 166 N: 13121] (49139)
  • [2013-06-26 14:46]

Hello Peter,
Great to see a new posting from you after such a long time. This macro is fantastic! Sharpness and details are excellent, the colours are splendid in a gorgeous contrast against the blurred background. Very good choice of composition.
Regards,
Peter

Hello Peter
Fantastic macro! Great choice of composition,wonderful colours and impressive sharpness.Thank You.
Have a good day!
Best regards
J.Diogo

Great photo Peter! The composition, the BG, the colours and the sharpness are excellent! Interesting species and very interesting note too!
Regards,
Christodoulos

Very nice shot Peter. Great clarity. The burnt orange colours look amazing in all their details. You've framed it very nicely too. Nice work! TFS Trevor

Good to see you posting again, Peter.
I notice this Fritillary picture is from your archives.
Superb composition with rich details and natural colour tones.
Please keep posting; your pictures add tremendous value to this truncated website.
Regards,
Ram

  • Great 
  • hsn6a Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 160 W: 0 N: 435] (8652)
  • [2013-06-26 22:34]

Hello Peter,
excellent capture brenthis,great details species,regards..

  • Great 
  • nagraj Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1618 W: 106 N: 3208] (15166)
  • [2013-06-26 23:40]

Hi,
Colorful species...captured with excellent details and composition. tfs.
nagraj.v

  • Great 
  • KOMSIS Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 820 W: 0 N: 2419] (10674)
  • [2013-06-27 0:35]

Hallo Peter,
Welcome back after a long break ..
Great shot. excellent capture, sharp details,nice colors and background, Great colour scheme.
Best wishes,
Seyfi

Hello Mr.peter,
First time I am in your picture gallery attracting by this picture.
Excellent one.Nice details with splendid color.Eye-catching composition.
Thanks for sharing,
Kind regards,
Srikumar

Hallo Peter
super good sharpness and very nice BG
the details and colours are beautiful
thanks greeting lou

Hello Peter,
驚人的蝴蝶色彩 照的很清楚
說不出這圖紋像甚麼 但是卻很有它的品味
STONE

Excellent image with clarity and beautiful colors

SM

  • Great 
  • anel Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 3053 W: 3 N: 8715] (40574)
  • [2013-06-27 4:28]
  • [+]

Lieber Peter,
So schön die Ueberraschung wieder mal ein Stoeckl Bild zu sehen. Und ein Leckerbissen, die Hekate habe ich noch nie gesehen. Ein typisches Bild von Dir, da gibt es keinen Zweifel, von wem es stammt.
Interessant auch Deinen Text zu lesen, die Herren Schiffermüller und Denis haben bei der Namensgebung viel Feingefühl gehabt. Danke auch für die Bilder im WS, die uns Oberflügel und den Biosphärenpark Wienerwald auch noch illustrieren.
Hab herzlichen Dank auch für Deinen lieben Besuch bei meinen letzten Bildern.Es hat mich sehr gefreut!
In der Hoffnung wieder mehr von Dir zu sehen, sende ich herzliche Grüsse
Richtung Wien.
Anne

Ciao Peter, great macro of fantastic butterfly, rare in my country, beautiful blurry BG, wonderful colors, fine details and splendid sharpness, very well done, my friend, ciao Silvio

  • Great 
  • IronM Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 144 W: 3 N: 345] (2608)
  • [2013-06-27 7:52]

Hi Peter,
outstanding macro of this beautiful spicies , present in my fields too !
The details are just amazing, well composed photo, perfect !
Best regards !

  • Great 
  • lousat Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 6595 W: 89 N: 15659] (65489)
  • [2013-06-27 11:32]
  • [+]

Hi Peter,a bit ovesharpened but really a beautiful capture of this rare brenthis,very close and whit the best natural colors,i like it!Have a nice day and thanks,Luciano

Hallo Peter
It is always great to see a posting from you and always a previlidge to leave my penny of thoughts at your postings.
Wonderful shot of this beautiful butterfly with such lovely coloured patterns on its wings. Superb lighting, exposure and depth of field. Fabulous background as it highlights the butterfly perfectly. I like its classical pose too.
Thanks for sharing. Best regards.
Anna

  • Great 
  • Alex99 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 4072 W: 133 N: 7096] (23735)
  • [2013-06-28 21:16]

Hi, dear Peter.
You have sheared an impressive set of pictures. Great presentation of the species and its habitat. All details of the lovely butterfly and ear are reproduced amazingly. Silk BG is wonderful and underlines tack sharp details of the main subject perfectly. Colours are very nice and pleasant for eyes. I think POV and framing of the scene are the best too. Bravo and warm regards.
Alexei.
P.S. Many thanks for so kind words and congratulations. I am very touched.

Hi Peter,
It's always good to see a new photo of you here, most of all with such useful documentation you added as note and workshops. Yes, a bit oversharpened on the wings, but everything else is beautiful and the theme you built up is more than interesting to say the least. I hope you'll have the time to stay on TN, or at least to hang on it more. Best regards, László

Hi dear Peter ,
Great macro with excellet details.
Regards
Saeed

Hello Peter,
A beautiful picture of this lovely butterfly, very good details sharpness, the butterfly stands out very well against light green background, very nicely done,
Thanks for sharing and have a nice afternoon,
Best Regards,
Bungbing.

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