Description: Wingspan 76-88mm. The uppersides are dark reddish purple. The margins of both wings are creamy-yellow. Inside this the wings have a line of blue spots. The underside is dark with a yellow border. Males and females are similar. N. Irish records have been in August or September.

World Distribution: Found in most of continental Europe extreme north and south, temperate Asia and North America.

Irish Distribution: A very rare vagrant recorded on six occasions prior to 1995. In 1995 four were seen. This was a year when 350 were reported in Britain and Ireland. Since then there has been just one report in 1997.

Ecology: The Camberwell Beauty is a species of woodland. The larval foodplants are species of willow, elm or poplar. The species is univoltine with adults overwintering. The adults are wide-ranging. There are no records of breeding in Britain and Ireland, and it is considered climatic conditions are not suitable for successful overwintering by adults.

Key Identification Features:

• Large size
• Dark wings with creamy-yellow border

Distribution Map from NBN: Aglais antiopa at National Biodiversity Network mapping facility, data for UK.

iNaturalist: Aglais antiopa at iNaturalist World Species Observations database.