Nymphalidae : Melitaeinae
Glanville Fritillary
MELITAEA cinxia (Linnaeus, 1758)
Glanville Fritillary
MELITAEA cinxia (Linnaeus, 1758)
Life Cycle Guide
Description
Wingspan: Male : 32-40mm : Female : 31-40mm
Worldwide Distribution: N-W Africa : Iberian Peninsula to Ural Mountains : S Britain : S Fennoscandia : Sicily : Balkans : Caucasus : Transcaucasia : Asia Minor : Near East : Temperate and subtropical Central and Western Asia.
UK Distribution: Restricted to Southern Coastal areas on Isle of Wight and Channel Isles-Introduced colonies in Southern England.
UK Conservation Status -
Flight Period: UK-End May-Beginning July-Univoltine : Early Spring-April-July-Bivoltine-Partial second brood in August-September : Near East at low levels-April-May-August in high altitudes.
Habitat: Coastal Grassland-undercliffs : Coastal River Valley or Chines : Cliff tops
Ovum: The female, when selecting an site to deposit a batch of 50-100 ova, chooses a warm environment where young Ribwort Plantain grows as opposed to larger plants.She deposits the white eggs in a layer on the underside of the leaf where they soon turn a light yellow.
They hatch within two to three weeks later.
Larva: Like other nymphalids the young gregarious caterpillars produce silk webs over the tops of the young Ribwort Plantain where they spend much of the day on top of the webs where their black bodies can absorb as much as possible from the sun.Some instars later the caterpillars move to larger vegetation,spin denser webs where they hibernate in small groups.In March the larvae once again spin new webs over the newly growing larval food plant.In April the larvae are fully grown and leave to silk nest to feed on the young plants.
Pupa: The black chrysalis with orange spots is formed on grass stems,roots or stones deep inside the vegetation. The pupal stage lasts about two weeks.
Overwinters as: Larva
Observation: The Glanville Fritillary is restricted to the southern half of the Isle of Wight and the Channel Isles where it can be found on coastal landslips,cliff tops and coastal river valleys.
There are odd colonies of this butterfly on the mainland coastal regions of Southern England, on the edge of its range, but these are considered vulnerable as well as an unauthorised release in Somerset.
In recent years one colony in Hampshire has sadly disappeared as the habitat possibly became overgrown, reducing the site temperature requirement for this beautiful butterfly to breed successfully.(See photo 1)
It was named after Lady Eleanor Glanville who first captured this species in Lincolnshire back in the 1690's.
Worldwide Distribution: N-W Africa : Iberian Peninsula to Ural Mountains : S Britain : S Fennoscandia : Sicily : Balkans : Caucasus : Transcaucasia : Asia Minor : Near East : Temperate and subtropical Central and Western Asia.
UK Distribution: Restricted to Southern Coastal areas on Isle of Wight and Channel Isles-Introduced colonies in Southern England.
UK Conservation Status -
- NERC S.41 : 2008 (England) - Species "of principle importance for the purpose of conserving biodiversity
- RDB 3 ( 1980/93 ) =<15 10Km Squares
- Endangered - Butterfly Red List for Great Britain 2010
- BAP : 2007 - Priority Species
- Fully Protected in Great Britain
- Least Concern
- Papilio cinxia (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Papilio cenxia (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Sweden
Flight Period: UK-End May-Beginning July-Univoltine : Early Spring-April-July-Bivoltine-Partial second brood in August-September : Near East at low levels-April-May-August in high altitudes.
Habitat: Coastal Grassland-undercliffs : Coastal River Valley or Chines : Cliff tops
Ovum: The female, when selecting an site to deposit a batch of 50-100 ova, chooses a warm environment where young Ribwort Plantain grows as opposed to larger plants.She deposits the white eggs in a layer on the underside of the leaf where they soon turn a light yellow.
They hatch within two to three weeks later.
Larva: Like other nymphalids the young gregarious caterpillars produce silk webs over the tops of the young Ribwort Plantain where they spend much of the day on top of the webs where their black bodies can absorb as much as possible from the sun.Some instars later the caterpillars move to larger vegetation,spin denser webs where they hibernate in small groups.In March the larvae once again spin new webs over the newly growing larval food plant.In April the larvae are fully grown and leave to silk nest to feed on the young plants.
Pupa: The black chrysalis with orange spots is formed on grass stems,roots or stones deep inside the vegetation. The pupal stage lasts about two weeks.
Overwinters as: Larva
Observation: The Glanville Fritillary is restricted to the southern half of the Isle of Wight and the Channel Isles where it can be found on coastal landslips,cliff tops and coastal river valleys.
There are odd colonies of this butterfly on the mainland coastal regions of Southern England, on the edge of its range, but these are considered vulnerable as well as an unauthorised release in Somerset.
In recent years one colony in Hampshire has sadly disappeared as the habitat possibly became overgrown, reducing the site temperature requirement for this beautiful butterfly to breed successfully.(See photo 1)
It was named after Lady Eleanor Glanville who first captured this species in Lincolnshire back in the 1690's.
Photo Gallery
Larvae
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.
- Plantaginaceae - Plantain Family
- Plantago lanceolata - Ribwort Plantain - English Plantain
- Plantago major - Common Plantain
- Plantago maritima - Sea Plantain
- Plantago media - Hoary Plantain
- Scrophulariaceae - Figwort Family
- Veronica austriaca - Hungarian Speedwell - Broadleaf Speedwell
- Veronica spicata - Spiked Speedwell
- Veronica urticifolia - Nettle Speedwell
- Note - Larvae also feed on the following plant families
- Asteraceae - Compositae - Achillea - Yarrow
- Poaceae - Gramineae - Hieracium - Hawkweeds
- Violaceae - Viola - Violets
- Note - Larvae also feed on the following plant families
Larval Food Plants
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Taxonomy
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Kingdom:
Subkingdom: Phylum: Subphylum Class: Order: Superfamily: Family: Subfamily: Tribe: Subtribe: Genus: Accepted Species Name: Type Species MELITAEA: Original Species Name: Species Names: Genus Group Names: Literary Ref: Type Locality: Aberrations: Subspecies: |
Animalia
Eumetozoa Arthropoda Hexapoda Insecta Lepidoptera Papilionoidea Nymphalidae Melitaeinae Melitaeini Melitaeina MELITAEA Fabricius, 1807 Melitaea cinxia (Linnaeus, 1758) - Papilio cinxia (Linnaeus, 1758) - PAPILIO cinxia (Linnaeus, 1758) = Papilio pilodellae Rottemburg, 1775 = Papilio pilosella Rottemburg, 1775 = Papilio delia Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775 = Melitaea delia Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775 = Melitaea pilosellae Rottemburg, 1776 = Papilio abacus Rezius, 1783 = Melitaea trivia Schrank, 1801 = Melitaea phoebe Godart, 1821 = Melitaea amardea Grum-Grshimailo, 1895 = Melitaea horvathi Abafi-Aigner, 1906 = Melitaea tschujaca Seitz, 1908 = Melitaea arelatia Fruhstorfer, 1910 = Melitaea australis Verity, 1916 = Melitaea narbonensis Fruhstorfer, 1917 = Melitaea sicula Ragusa, 1919 = Melitaea castiliana Turati, 1921 = Melitaea carpentana Verity, 1929 = Melitaea carpentana Verity, 1929 = Melitaea deva Hemming, 1934 = Melitaea kasyi Gross & Ebert, 1975 - MELITAEA Fabricius 1807 = Cinclidia Hübner 1818 = Mellicta Billberg 1820 = Athaliaeformis Verity 1950 = Didymaeformis Verity 1950 - Syst. Nat. (Edn 10) 1 : Title page : p.480 n.137 - Sweden - M.c. brenthis Reuss, 1921 M.c. fulla Quensel, 1791 M.c. mocsaryi Aigner, 1905 M.c. obscurior Seitz, 1909 M.c. pauper Caruel, 1944 M.c. wittei Geest, 1903 - M.c.cinxia Linnaeus, 1758-Morocco-Middle Atlas : W.Algeria M.c.amardea Grum-Grshimailo, 1895 M.c.atlantis Le Cerf, 1928-Morocco-High Atlas : Toubkal Massif M.c.clarissa Staudinger, 1901-Syria : Israel : Lebanon M.c.heynei Rühl, 1895-Type Locality-Alai M.c.karavajevi Obraztsov, 1936-Ukraine M.c.oasis Huang & Murayama 1992-China-Yunnan M.c.sacarina Fruhstorfer, 1917-Type Locality-Saratov M.c.tschujaca Seitz, 1908-Altai - E.Siberia |
