Nymphalidae : Heliconiinae
High Brown Fritillary
ARGYNNIS (Fabriciana) adippe ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775)
High Brown Fritillary
ARGYNNIS (Fabriciana) adippe ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775)
Life Cycle Guide
Description
Wingspan: 55-69mm
Worldwide Distribution: Europe : Temperate Asia : Japan.
UK Distribution: Wales-reduced to single site : England-Dartmoor & Lake District-Morecambe Bay area
UK Conservation Status -
Flight Period: Mid June-Early August
Habitat: Grassy, bracken covered slopes/ground level, near light woodland : Rocky limestone outcrops where woodland has been cleared
Ovum: The female select warm,sunny areas with light bracken and shrubs where she deposits her cone shaped ova on twigs,dead leaves or stones close to Pale-dog Violets and Dog Violets. When first deposited the ovum is a shade of pink but soon turns a dull grey. After three weeks the larva is fully formed within the ovum where it remains to hibernate until the following spring.
Larva: The larva having bored its way out of the tough shell immediately searches out the larval food plant to feed through April and May.
The beautiful final instar larva can be found, like many of the other Fritillary larvae, basking out in the full sunshine.
Pupa: The pupa is formed inside a loose silk web hanging by its cremaster on loose twigs or branches. The pupal stage lasts for about three weeks.
Overwinters as: Ovum
Observations: Since the 1950's the decline of this beautiful butterfly has been disastrous where the site numbers have dropped to about 50, which is only 5% of its former range, making the butterfly a high priority species and as such the target for intense conservation to save this butterfly from extinction in this country. Despite this the butterfly is still declining and only survives on sites in Dartmoor and the Lake District where it is at the extreme northerly edge of its range.
The butterfly used to be the most common woodland butterfly in some southern counties but has now virtually disappeared from woods altogether.Clearly the decline of coppicing and the loss of the larval food plant had a great deal to do with this situation.
The High Brown Fritillary, as I found out last year, is an extremely fast flyer like its associate butterfly the Dark Green Fritillary both of which fly together,occasionally stopping to imbibe on Thistles and Bramble blossoms.
Clearly in flight they are almost impossible to differentiate and its only when they settle that one can either see the different underside where as they name suggests the base colours are either brown or green although on faded individuals one can see the brown edged post-discal spots on the High Brown something that is absent on the Dark Green Fritillary.
However for the most part this butterfly lands with its wings fully open in which case the defining difference is that the third submarginal spot down from the forewing apex is offset with the High Brown and in-line with the Dark Green Fritillary,for me the easiest was of setting the two butterflies apart.
Worldwide Distribution: Europe : Temperate Asia : Japan.
UK Distribution: Wales-reduced to single site : England-Dartmoor & Lake District-Morecambe Bay area
UK Conservation Status -
- RDB2 - 1980/93 - Vulnerable = 6 - 10 10Km Squares
- BAP : 2007 - Priority Species
- NERC S.41 : 2008 (England) & NERC S.42 : 2009 (Wales) - Species "of principle importance for the purpose of conserving biodiversity
- Critically Endangered - Butterfly Red List for Great Britain 2010
- Least Concern
- Papilio adippe ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775)
- Papilio paphia (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Austria-Vienna
Flight Period: Mid June-Early August
Habitat: Grassy, bracken covered slopes/ground level, near light woodland : Rocky limestone outcrops where woodland has been cleared
Ovum: The female select warm,sunny areas with light bracken and shrubs where she deposits her cone shaped ova on twigs,dead leaves or stones close to Pale-dog Violets and Dog Violets. When first deposited the ovum is a shade of pink but soon turns a dull grey. After three weeks the larva is fully formed within the ovum where it remains to hibernate until the following spring.
Larva: The larva having bored its way out of the tough shell immediately searches out the larval food plant to feed through April and May.
The beautiful final instar larva can be found, like many of the other Fritillary larvae, basking out in the full sunshine.
Pupa: The pupa is formed inside a loose silk web hanging by its cremaster on loose twigs or branches. The pupal stage lasts for about three weeks.
Overwinters as: Ovum
Observations: Since the 1950's the decline of this beautiful butterfly has been disastrous where the site numbers have dropped to about 50, which is only 5% of its former range, making the butterfly a high priority species and as such the target for intense conservation to save this butterfly from extinction in this country. Despite this the butterfly is still declining and only survives on sites in Dartmoor and the Lake District where it is at the extreme northerly edge of its range.
The butterfly used to be the most common woodland butterfly in some southern counties but has now virtually disappeared from woods altogether.Clearly the decline of coppicing and the loss of the larval food plant had a great deal to do with this situation.
The High Brown Fritillary, as I found out last year, is an extremely fast flyer like its associate butterfly the Dark Green Fritillary both of which fly together,occasionally stopping to imbibe on Thistles and Bramble blossoms.
Clearly in flight they are almost impossible to differentiate and its only when they settle that one can either see the different underside where as they name suggests the base colours are either brown or green although on faded individuals one can see the brown edged post-discal spots on the High Brown something that is absent on the Dark Green Fritillary.
However for the most part this butterfly lands with its wings fully open in which case the defining difference is that the third submarginal spot down from the forewing apex is offset with the High Brown and in-line with the Dark Green Fritillary,for me the easiest was of setting the two butterflies apart.
Photo Gallery
Larval Food Plants Worldwide
Note - Plants hyperlinked in red below take the visitor to the relevant plant page on"Plants for a Future" website
where further information like photos,physical
characteristics,habitats,edible uses,medicinal
uses,cultivation,propagation,range,height etc. are clearly listed.
- Plant Families - in bold red below takes the visitor to the relevant "Lepi-plants" page where other butterflies & moths using the plants below are listed.
- Violaceae - Violet - Pansy Family
- Viola canina - Heath Dog Violet - Dog Violet
- Viola lactea - Pale Dog-violet
- Viola odorata syn.hirta - Sweet Violet - Hairy Violet
- Viola riviniana - Wood Violet - Common Dog Violet
Larval Food Plants
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Taxonomy
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Kingdom:
Subkingdom: Phylum: Subphylum Class: Order: Superfamily: Family: Subfamily: Tribe: Genus: Subgenus: Accepted Species Name: Type Species - ARGYNNIS: Original Species Name: Species Names: Literary Ref: Type Locality: Forms/Aberrations: Subspecies: |
Animalia
Eumetozoa Arthropoda Hexapoda Insecta Lepidoptera Papilionoidea Nymphalidae Heliconiinae Argynnini ARGYNNIS Fabricius, 1807 Fabriciana Reuss 1920 Argynnis ( Fabriciana ) adippe ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) - Papilio paphia (Linnaeus, 1758) - PAPILIO adippe ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) = Fabriciana adippe ([Deniis & Schiffermüller], 1775) = Argynnis berecynthia Poda, 1761 = Argynnis cydippe Linnaeus, 1761 = Argynnis adippe Linnaeus, 1767 = Papilio phryxa Bergstrasser, 1780 = Papilio aspasia Borkhausen, 1788 = Agynnis cleodoxa Ochsenheimer 1816 = Argynnis chlorodippe de Villeiers & Guenée, 1835 = Fabriciana esperi Verity, 1913 = Argynnis extincta Bryk, 1922 - Ankündung eines systematischen Werkes von den Schmetterlingen der Wienergegend Title Page : p.177 n.3 - Austria-Vienna - A.a. albomaculata Goodson, 1948 A.a. bronzus Frohawk, 1938 A.a. callisto Cabeau, 1922 A.a. cuneata Tutt, 1896 A.a. fasciata Blachier, 1910 A.a. infrarufescens Lempke, 1956 A.a. margareta Stephan, 1924 A.a. pseudocleodoxa Verity, 1929 A.a. toroki Aigner, 1906 - A.a.adippe Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775-Carpathians : C. Europe : W.Siberia : Sayan : Altais - Nominate Subspecies A.a.norvegica Schultz, 1904-Northern Europe : Siberia : Far East A.a.garcila Fruhstorfer, 1910-Southern Europe A.a.thalestria Jachontov, 1909-Caucasus A.a.tianshanica Alpheraky, 1881-Tian-Shan : Tarbagatai : Saur A.a.martini Reuss, 1922-Ghissar-Darvaz A.a.bischoffi Reuss, 1922-Pamirs-Alai A.a.alaiensis Reuss, 1921 A.a.zarevner Fruhstorfer, 1912-Sayan : Transbaikalia A.a.taurica Staudinger, 1878-Armenia : Kopet-Dagh A.a.taliana Reuss, 1922 A.a.satakei Nakahara, 1926-Sakhalin A.a.doii Matsumura, 1928-Kuriles A.a.pallescens Butler, 1873-Japan A.a.chrysodippe Staudinger, 1892-Amur A.a.chayuensis Huang, 2001 A.a.locuples Butler, 1881-Japan A.a.kurosawae Matsumura, 1929-Japan A.a.taigetana Ruess, 1922-Japan A.a.chinensis Belter, 1931-Szechuan A.a.elwesi Ruess, 1921-Kulu A.a.chlorodippe Herrich-Schaffer, 1851-C & S Spain |