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Hi, I have been going through some old photo's recently and came across this unidentified Fritillary, taken at Ljubljana Zoo in Slovenia in 2004. I think it's a Mellicta, possibly M. aurelia, Nickerl's Fritillary. I do remember it being small, smaller than a male gatekeeper. I was wondering if anyone with more experience with European butterflies could help confirm it's Id. My humble apologies for the aweful quality of the image!

Hi Bugboy. I don't think you'll get a firm ID from a single underside photo, but in my opinion it's a choice between athalia and britomartis. The branding under the forewing in particular (ss.2 & 3) is stronger than is normal in aurelia but typical of athalia and quite common in britomartis. The strong branding internally of the orange lunules on the hindwing and the noticeably darker band crossing the pale submarginal lunules suggests britomartis but both feature may be present on athalia. On the balance of appearances, and as you add that it was small, I'd go for britomartis - but I think you will never know for sure.

Guy

Thanks, I knew it would be a long shot to get a firm Id. I might dig out the slides and see if I took any more pics, pretty sure I did but this pic was probably the best one which is why it got scanned and not any more. If memory serves I seem to remember there was a small group of them fluttering around this patch of flowers, perhaps half a dozen, but it was many years ago now and my memory's not as good as it once was sadly!