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Marsh Fritillary

Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 8:14 pm
by roundwood123
Hi all, is this a Marsh Fritillary?, Spotted by me in Portugal last week.
Steve.

Re: Marsh Fritillary

Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 9:14 pm
by NickMorgan
I'd be inclined towards a Spanish Fritillary, but I'm no expert. Where abouts in Portugal was it?

Re: Marsh Fritillary

Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2012 9:48 pm
by Padfield
I can see why Nick said that, but it is a marsh fritillary.

In Spanish fritillary the band inside the submarginal crescents on the forewing is brick red and wide, with conspicuous small, defined, yellow spots in it. Starting with the submarginal crescents, the pattern of the outer three bands is a striking narrow-wide-narrow.

Marsh fritillary is very variable across its range but never (in my experience) matches the full spec described above. The fritillary posted is a great March sighting but not a Spanish fritillary.

Guy

Re: Marsh Fritillary

Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 4:55 pm
by roundwood123
Thanks Guy/Nick, It was the only Fritillary of the week, i stayed just outside Lisbon in Cascais, The only other Butterflies of note were 4 Green Hairstreaks, 2 Clouded Yellow, 2 Swallowtailes and a quick glimpse of a Marbled White sp..
Steve.