Dark Green Fritillary

Fascinating facts about the Dark Green Fritillary

• The dark green fritillary spans the entire Palearctic, occurring from Europe and Morocco across Iran, Siberia and Central Asia to China, Korea and Japan. Its presence is confirmed in a wide variety of habitats, from the southern European plains to the Altai and Sayan mountains of Siberia. Subspecies such as S. aglaja inhabit Southern and Central Europe as well as West and South Siberia, while others like S. borealis reach the Russian Far East and Kamchatka.
• The dark green fritillary first entered scientific literature in Linnaeus's 1758 Systema Naturae, where it was described as Papilio aglaja with Sweden recorded as the type locality. Later taxonomic revisions moved it to the genus Speyeria within the subfamily Heliconiinae of the brush-footed butterflies.
• The underside of the dark green fritillary's hindwing is covered with countless silver spots set against a mixed verdigris-leather-yellow background. Unlike the Niobe and high brown fritillaries, it never displays a marginal row of eye-spots, a feature that instantly distinguishes it in the field.
• In the British Isles the dark green fritillary lays its eggs in the high summer, placing them directly on or close to violet plants. The newly hatched caterpillar immediately consumes its own eggshell, a behaviour that triggers its first period of dormancy. It then begins to hibernate, remaining inactive throughout the winter months.
• British dark green fritillaries deposit their eggs in the high summer, choosing sites near violet hosts such as common dog-violet. The larvae that hatch later consume the eggshell and then enter hibernation, emerging with the spring thaw to feed on the same violet species.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Dark Green Fritillary

As the Dark Green Fritillary dances through the sun-drenched meadows, its delicate wings beat at a hypnotic pace, casting a mesmerizing spell of iridescent colors that shimmer and glimmer in the warm light. With an effortless elegance, it flits from bloom to bloom, sipping nectar with an insatiable hunger, its very existence a testament to the unbridled beauty of the natural world. In its fluid, whirling motion, the Dark Green Fritillary embodies the carefree spirit of summer itself, a fleeting yet unforgettable presence that leaves an indelible mark on the landscape.

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