David Element
Wildlife Photography and Digital Video Images
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Butterflies 107 – Dark Green Fritillaries
DARK GREEN FRITILLARY Speyeria aglaja
DARK GREEN FRITILLARY Speyeria aglaja
DARK GREEN FRITILLARY Speyeria aglaja
DARK GREEN FRITILLARY Speyeria aglaja
DARK GREEN FRITILLARY Speyeria aglaja
DARK GREEN FRITILLARY Speyeria aglaja
DARK GREEN FRITILLARY Speyeria aglaja
DARK GREEN FRITILLARY Speyeria aglaja
DARK GREEN FRITILLARY Speyeria aglaja
DARK GREEN FRITILLARY Speyeria aglaja
DARK GREEN FRITILLARY Speyeria aglaja
DARK GREEN FRITILLARY Speyeria aglaja
DARK GREEN FRITILLARY Speyeria aglaja
DARK GREEN FRITILLARY Speyeria aglaja (f)
DARK GREEN FRITILLARY Speyeria aglaja (f)
DARK GREEN
FRITILLARY Speyeria aglaja (f)
·
When freshly emerged, Dark Green Fritillaries Speyeria
aglaja are stunning looking insects,
although as is so often the case with butterflies they won’t remain pristine
for long! On the Continent this butterfly may be most easily
distinguished from the two most similar large European fritillaries also possessing
conspicuous silvery-white spots on their undersides (the High Brown
Fritillary Fabriciana adippe
and the Niobe Fritillary F. niobe) by
the absence of any white-pupilled red spots inside
the marginal row of white spots on the hindwings. Note that the uppersides of these species and of other larger
fritillaries are similar although the appearance of female Dark Green
Fritillaries may be enhanced by a brighter ground colour of the marginal spots.
This fast-flying butterfly is very active in bright sunshine, and it can be a
frustrating subject to photograph as it rarely settles for long on flowers when
feeding (often on Knapweeds Centaurea spp.), it may fly some
distance between sources of nectar, and whenever the sun disappears it has an
annoying habit of dropping down into the cover of vegetation where it can be
difficult to relocate. So, it is not always easy to get a good view of the
underside, or indeed to obtain photographs that might enable the markings to be
checked at a more leisurely pace! In the UK identification should be relatively
straightforward at any sites where there is not known to be a population of the
rare High Brown Fritillary. The photographs on this page were taken in the
South of France, Switzerland, and the UK. Populations at some British sites
seem to have been declining and sightings may be sporadic, often of singletons,
so sightings are prized by butterfly afficionados. This Butterfly Conservation European
Butterflies reference: http://www.european-butterflies.org.uk/downloads/EURO%20FRITS%20GUIDE.pdf offers excellent guidance, and it
should enable most European fritillaries to be identified from clear
photographs – if the appropriate features can be seen. It is easy to get them
wrong as the markings may be almost identical, albeit variable, between closely
related species, and since he discovered it, the author has been carefully
cross-checking old photographs for misidentifications! There have been some
recent reclassifications in the light of DNA sequence analysis too. There are
many beautifully illustrated reference books available for students of for
butterflies but looking at a high-resolution PDF enlarged on a computer screen
offers distinct advantages when making any direct comparisons with the details
in photographs.
-> Butterflies 1,
2, 3,
4, 5,
6, 7,
8, 9,
10, 11,
12, 13,
14, 15,
16, 17,
18, 19,
20, 21,
22, 23,
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28, 29,
30, 31,
32, 33,
34, 35, 36,
37, 38,
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41, 42,
43, 44,
45, 46,
47, 48,
49, 50,
51, 52,
53, 54,
55, 56,
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84,
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-> Species Index, Common Names
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