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Some years ago I was breeding some Marsh Frit caterpillars in captivity. They were on Teasle in their final instar and looking fairly full grown when I ran out of it. I tried to put them back on their standard foodplant Devil's Bit Scabious but they refused it to the point of death. The other way round I might have expected it.

Hi Chitin

I would be very interested to know where your Marsh Fritillary caterpillars came from. In Bulgaria I have only ever found them on a species of Teasel (Dipsacus laciniatus); never on any scabious. I recently discovered that they have also been found on Teasel in Turkey. I strongly suspect that the same may be true in Greece. If your larvae came from the southern Balkans or Turkey, it would tend to confirm my suspicion that there is a distinct ecological race dependent on Teasel. That fact that your larvae refused Scabious is extremely interesting.

Misha

I am pretty sure the source was U.K. It was 25-30 years ago when they were pretty common and you didn't need to import them.