Fritillary for ID

[Matsukaze]

Hi All,

I'm puzzled by the fritillary below, photographed in Les Landes in mid-September. It was fluttering energetically by a sunny roadside verge on the edge of the pine forest; there were a few areas of clear-fell and recent plantation nearby which may have provided suitable habitat for the caterpillars. My best guess is Heath Fritillary which would fit size-wise, but so would a bunch of other similar species in the group...

[Padfield]

The black uns branding is absent, suggesting it is not a heath fritillary, and the general appearance says to me female meadow frit or Provençal frit. Both can have that two-tone appearance (female Provençal always has it - female meadow often).

The pd line on the upf is faint around v. 4 suggesting meadow fritillary and this is what I think it is. Apart from anything else, if I have the right 'Les Landes' it is out of range for Provençal (though that should never be definitive, or we would never find new species in new places).

So that's my verdict: female meadow fritillary. Some doubt remaining.

Guy

[Roger Gibbons]

I would agree. It doesn’t have the orange feel of Provencal (M. dejone) although it is hard to tell from these photos. The underside is usually very noticeably red for dejone but does not appear so here.

The underside forewing usually has clear black post-discal s4-s6 marks in dejone, which this one doesn’t seem to have. The upperside hindwing marginal lunules are not highly arched with the border extending in little triangles into the lunules, as would be normal for dejone. Also the borders are very heavy which I find to be normal in classic Meadow (M. parthenoides) in south-western France.

[Matsukaze]

Thanks folks!