Balkan Fritillary (boloria graeca)  -- Mountain Fritillary (boloria napaea) -- Shepherd's Fritillary (boloria pales)

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2008 photos highlighted green. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.

Until recently there were four boloria species occurring in France, graeca and napaea and pales as on this page, and the much scarcer Cranberry Fritillary (B. aquilonaris). However following the revised taxonomy in Tristan Lafranchis' new European ID book, the species previously classified as clossiana are now re-classified as boloria. As Lafranchis is the most widely published European expert on taxonomy, and as his publication is the most recent, I have followed his classification on this web site. As the original boloria species are so similar, I have put them on the same page for ease of comparison, with the photos of napaea and pales alongside each other below.

Balkan Fritillary (boloria graeca)

3219_male_Alpes Maritimes_26Jul06 - graeca	3241_male_Alpes Maritimes_26Jul06 - graeca	3048_female_Alpes Maritimes_25Jul06 - graeca
3052_female_Alpes Maritimes_25Jul06 - graeca

Prior to 2006 I had never seen any of the erstwhile four boloria species - even though pales is considered to be common. Graeca was the first boloria I saw, and I rather assumed it would be pales until I had a chance to study the photos, when It became apparent, much to my surprise, that it was graeca. It occurs mainly in eastern Europe, hence its name, and in a relatively small area of the south-west Alps, where it is the Alpine form tendensis in which the unh post-discal spots are more developed. It is restricted to the higher reaches with a normal minimum altitude of 1700m, although it can occur as low as 1400m.

Graeca has a very angled hindwing apex, more pointed than its cousins. Lafranchis says that the forewing apex is pointed; maybe, but it seems no more pointed than the book illustrations of pales and napaea. The definitive key to differentiating these species is the underside markings, where graeca has a series of clear red ocelli in s2-6, and the one in s3 is contrasted on a pale background. There are some subtle differences in markings between male and female, but in general it seems that the female has more contrast with better developed white markings.

3219: a male, with a clearly angled hindwing apex. Altitude 2040m, same location as 3048.

3241: a male underside, with the white markings merging into the paler buff markings. My finger is visible bottom left to stop the seedhead it was resting on from blowing about in high winds. Altitude 2040m, same location as 3048.

3048: a female, I believe, even though the just-visible body length might suggest male, mainly because it is the same butterfly as 3052, where the underside markings, especially the better defined (c.f. 3241) white markings clearly indicate female. Altitude 2040m.

3052: as noted in 3048, a female on the basis of the well developed white markings, and subtle differences in markings between the sexes, based on the illustrations in T&L. Altitude 2040m.

Mountain Fritillary (boloria napaea) and Shepherd's Fritillary (boloria pales)

3776_male_Alpes de Haute Provence_14Aug06 - napaea	3780_male_Alpes de Haute Provence_14Aug06 - napaea	13236_female_Valais, Switzerland_19Jul08 - napaea
13207_male_Valais, Switzerland_18Jul08 - pales	13184_male_Valais, Switzerland_18Jul08 - pales	13210_female_Valais, Switzerland_18Jul08 - pales

It is quite difficult to tell the difference between the males of napaea and pales. The female napaea is strongly suffused with a greenish sheen and quite different to the female pales. The key differentiating features of the males of these two species appear, from what I have read and observed, seem to be:

1) black markings: napaea has (allegedly) somewhat finer upperside black markings. However, the Alpine form of pales is palustris in which the black markings are narrower and the colouring redder. This rather negates the value of the fineness of the markings with regard to differentiating the two.

2) upf marginal markings: Lafranchis says that the upf post-discal and submarginal spots are broadly parallel from s1b to s6 for napaea, whereas for pales they are closer in s4-s6 than they are in s1b-s3. Sorry if this sounds complicated, but this is best means of differentiating between the two with any degree of confidence, and it does seem to work. It also seems to me that the napaea submarginal markings on both wings are rather more sagittate than pales.

3) undersides: there are some rather subtle differences in the underside markings, especially the unh. The white markings of pales seem more pronounced. The unh needs to be checked carefully against the illustrations in T&L. This seems to works quite well, and corroborates other ID indicators.

4) wing shape: Lafranchis says the pales forewing is elongated and narrow and pointed at the apex. The napaea forewing is described as very broad.

5) distribution: both are local in the Alps and Pyrenees, although Lafranchis says pales is widespread and abundant, where napaea is localised but abundant enough in the Alps and probably restricted to the eastern part of the Pyrenees.

6) altitude range: according to Lafranchis, napaea is found only at high altitudes of 1800m and above while pales has a normal altitude range of 2000-2500m but can occur as low as 1600m. Lafranchis says that where they fly on the same mountain, pales often flies at higher levels than napaea. I have to say that on the one occasion I have seen them both on the same mountain, napaea was flying some 100m+ higher than pales.

3776: napaea: a male, the markings are light and clean even though the forewing markings are heavier than as shown in T&L, and the series of post-discal spots on both wings seem very small c.f. T&L. The slightly sagittate submarginal markings suggest napaea. The body seems shorter (it looks longer in other photos) and fatter and the body shape suggests a female, although it cannot be female napaea (see 13236) but it may be female pales. I am influenced by the fact that the underside 3780 is almost certainly the same specimen (the photos were taken 40 seconds apart) and female napaea was in close proximity. Altitude 2200m.

3780: napaea: the comparison of the markings with T&L suggests a male napaea, in particular the black-edged one in s7 in the discal area. Altitude 2200m.

13236: napaea female, the greenish suffusion being strongly in evidence. This could not be mistaken for anything else, let alone female pales. Altitude 2200m.

13207: a pales male, the reddish colouring, the narrow forewings, and the divergent upf spots (see point 2 above) are fairly strong pointers to pales. Altitude 2200m.

13184: a pales male, the markings matching very well with the T&L illustration and sufficiently different to napaea to make the ID quite positive. It was flying with other pales and no napaea in the vicinity. Altitude 2200m.

13210: a pales female, I think, the pointers being less convincing, but the body shape and length suggest female and, if so, it cannot be napaea. Altitude 2200m.

3219_male_Alpes Maritimes_26Jul06 - graeca

3241_male_Alpes Maritimes_26Jul06 - graeca

3048_female_Alpes Maritimes_25Jul06 - graeca

3052_female_Alpes Maritimes_25Jul06 - graeca

3776_male_Alpes de Haute Provence_14Aug06 - napaea

3780_male_Alpes de Haute Provence_14Aug06 - napaea

13236_female_Valais, Switzerland_19Jul08 - napaea

13207_male_Valais, Switzerland_18Jul08 - pales