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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

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

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

That's an amazing butterfly. Thanks for sharing.