Mountain Fritillary ?

[Reverdin]

Now I can't remember whether I've already requested confirmation, such as is possible, for these I have labelled as napaea, so please indulge me in a ?further opinion....

1)... Beaufort Pass...

2)... 3 different ones from Simplon...

Many thanks in advance

[Paul Wetton]

Hi Rev

These females look very similar to some I photographed in June at Simplon which were napaea with a greyish or violet wash to the orange of the upper wing surface. All the pales females we saw at Simplon were very much plain orange / yellow. The underside shots look quite pale and cleanly marked as expected for napaea but I'd still wait for an answer from Guy on these. These again look like females.

[Reverdin]

Thanks Paul... that is helpful, I'm sure we were there just days apart, supports my premise so far and hope Guy casts his eye over them at some stage.... I want to label them in my forthcoming Photobox book - preferably correctly, though some know that is not my norm!!- especially where it comes to athalia and berisalii

[Padfield]

Yes, in my experience these are all napaea. The uppersides are surprisingly lacking in blue reflections, but these are structural effects which are affected by angle and lighting conditions, like the colours of emperors.

This napaea, also from the Simplon, shows very much less blue on the right hindwing than on the left, though there is no difference in scaling or pigmentation:



The most extreme napaea I've seen was further East, in the Grisons, and this one was blue from all angles:



I think books and photographers enjoy showing off these highly coloured insects and slightly exaggerate the average effect.

Guy

[Reverdin]

excellent, thanks. - that second napaea you posted was an absolute beauty wasn't she.

although the subject of my first photo looks worn, she was in fact well covered in very pale scales, ? to the point of aberration