Great Spangled Fritillary Butterfly On Black Eyed Susan
by Barbara McMahon
Title
Great Spangled Fritillary Butterfly On Black Eyed Susan
Artist
Barbara McMahon
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Family: Nymphalidae
Subfamily: Heliconiinae
Identification: Large. Upperside of male tan to orange with black scales on forewing veins; female tawny, darker than male. Underside of hindwing with wide pale submarginal band and large silver spots.
Wing Span: 2 1/2 - 4 inches (6.3 - 10.1 cm).
Life History: Males patrol open areas for females. Eggs are laid in late summer on or near host violets. Newly-hatched caterpillars do not feed, but overwinter until spring, when they eat young violet leaves.
Flight: One brood from mid-June to mid-September.
Caterpillar Hosts: Various violet species (Viola).
Adult Food: Nectar from many species of flowers including milkweeds, thistles, ironweed, dogbane, mountain laurel, verbena, vetch, bergamot, red clover, joe-pye weed, and purple coneflower.
Habitat: Open, moist places including fields, valleys, pastures, right-of-ways, meadows, open woodland, prairies.
Range: Alberta east to Nova Scotia, south to central California, New Mexico, central Arkansas, and northern Georgia. Comments: The most common fritillary throughout most of the eastern United States.
Uploaded
July 10th, 2014
Statistics
Viewed 378 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 03/27/2024 at 11:24 PM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet
Comments (5)
Barbara McMahon
Thank you Eve Spring for featuring "Great Spangled Fritillary Butterfly On Black Eyed Susan" in the Flower With Company group! Much appreciated.
Les Palenik
Great capture, Barbara! And the spots on the wings match the colour of coneflower petals
Barbara McMahon replied:
hank you Les for your great comment! I don't know the species of this butterfly. Might be a Great Spangled Fritillary, but I still need to confirm.