Heath Fritillary - ab or not?

[Bill S]

Hi folks

I saw this a couple of weeks ago in France, NE of Toulouse. The first question is, is it a Heath Fritillary and if so is it an aberration or within normal variance?

Many thanks in advance for any help

Regards

Bill

[Padfield]

It's difficult to be sure with Melitaea at the best of times, so I hesitate to give a confident ID here. I suspect, however, that it is a meadow fritillary, Melitaea parthenoides. The open area in the upperside hindwing and the pattern of the underside hindwing suggest this.

Melanism is relatively common in this group. I have seen a rather similar but less symmetrical individual (parthenoides):





I assumed my individual was environmentally produced, rather than genetic, because of the asymmetry. Beyond assumptions, I really don't know!

Guy

[Bill S]

Thanks Guy, I hadn't spotted the Meadow Fritillary as a possibility it's certainly a closer match on the underside than Heath.

Cheers

Bill

[David M]

That's an amazing butterfly. Thanks for sharing.