All Goldenrings are, IMHO, strikingly handsome creatures, so how any one can come up with a name including the word “sombre” is entirely beyond me. As a group, they are also pretty unmistakable. The individual species, however, can readily be confused. Indeed, I was guilty of spending a year thinking the individual in these pictures was a Common Goldenring, because that’s what I’d seen in this location on a previous year. I woke up and was delighted to find that I had another species for our catalogue.
The notes below contrast this with the more widespread Common Goldenring.
Id Notes
- Apical spots on S2&3/4 and not on S5-8
- In side view, yellow abdominal markings appear decidedly triangular
- Black occipital triangle (behind where the eyes meet – yellow in C. boltonii)
- Normally, 3 cells in the hind-wing anal triangle (5 cells in C. boltonii)
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