Spanish Fritillary (Euphydryas desfontainii)

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2023 photographs highlighted in green. Click on any photograph to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.

49167_male_Aude_18May22 49120_female_Aude_17May22 50789_female_Aude_20May23 50808_female_Aude_20May23
 
50709_male_Aude_20May23 49170_male_Aude_18May22 49113_female_Aude_17May22  
A very scarce and extremely localised species in France, occurring only in the south-eastern Pyrénées. It may well have disappeared from its previously best known location, principally because, it is rumoured, a collector removed all of the eggs. It is also rather localised in its main localities in eastern Spain. 

Where I saw it, in the département of Aude, for the first time in 2022, it was flying in company with Marsh Fritillary (E. aurinia) of the form beckeri, a very red form of this species and, as such, very similar to desfontainii and very tricky to separate in flight.

2022 was a very early year for nearly all species everywhere and, whilst mid-May should be the ideal period for desfontainii, the few males I saw were clearly showing some degree of ageing and the one female I saw was fresh.

The images on this page were taken while the butterflies were nectaring actively on a 30C cloudless day, so all of the images are the best that could be achieved. I revisited the site in 2023 and, although the weather was cool and overcast, there were odd spells of weak sun that persuaded a few to open up briefly.

The sexes are superficially very similar, the female being rather larger, and the marginal lunules on both the upf and uph are larger in the female.

The undersides of both sexes are similar, with the marginal lunules of the female being rather larger than the male, mirroring the upperside. The unh of both sexes seen in 2022 were very beige, especially the post-discal band, whereas the T&L illustration shows this band to be red and very similar to the underside of beckeri; this is one of the few cases where I feel T&L is not accurate. The one male - an underside - I was able to photograph in 2023 was very different again to those I saw in 2022.

T&L says that the subspecies that flies in the eastern Pyrénées is baetica.

ref

sex

observations

alt. m

49167

M

a male, showing some signs of wear.

620

49120

F

a female, quite fresh.

620

50789 F a female, a little wear on the fringes but otherwise quite fresh. 620
50808 F a female, a little wear on the fringes but otherwise quite fresh, and only opening its wings to this extent. 620
50709 M a male underside, lightly marked and really quite pale and not beige at all, but with a very red post-discal band. Quite different to illustration in T&L. 620

49170

M

a male underside, as can be seen from the body shape and end of the abdomen. It is considerably less marked than the image shown in T&L.

620

49113

F

a female underside, as indicated by the body shape. It is more strongly marked than the male 49170, especially on the unf, but the unh is still very different to the unisex underside shown in T&L.

620

 

49167_male_Aude_18May22

 

49120_female_Aude_17May22

 

50789_female_Aude_20May23

 

50808_female_Aude_20May23

 

50709_male_Aude_20May23

 

49170_male_Aude_18May22

 

49113_female_Aude_17May22