Grisons Fritillary (Mellicta varia)
2009 photos highlighted in yellow. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
|
|
|
| 13297_male_Valais, Switzerland_19Jul08 | 13268_male_Valais, Switzerland_19Jul08 |
An altitude specialist, with a normal minimum altitude of 1700m. It is quite similar to the Meadow Fritillary (M. parthenoides), both having a very thick black border, although the upf s1 discal mark is allegedly straight edged (or extended and key-shaped) whereas parthenoides is clearly oblique. The upf post-discal is often thin and broken which seems to hold true for specimens I have seen. The female upperside usually has a greyish suffusion and there is an outside possibility I may have seen one, although it was probably parthenoides and I have included it on that page.
13297: a male, quite orange and lightly marked, looking nothing like the illustration in T&L. In 2008 varia was exceptionally common at this location, with ten or more puddling in several different places. They were all, I believe, males. I did not see one that looked as if it could be a female. Altitude 2200m.
13268: a male underside. Most of the males were puddling and had the uppersides on show. The few visible undersides were in awkward places, hence this distance shot. Altitude 2200m.
13297_male_Valais, Switzerland_19Jul08
13268_male_Valais, Switzerland_19Jul08
