Nymphalidae : Melitaeinae
Heath Fritillary
MELITAEA athalia (Rottemburg,1775)
Heath Fritillary
MELITAEA athalia (Rottemburg,1775)
Life Cycle Guide
Description
Wingspan: Male : 32-40mm : Female : 31-40mm
Worldwide Distribution: Europe : Russia : Temperate Asia : Japan.
UK Distribution: Restricted to a few sites in Cornwall : Devon : Essex : Kent : Exmoor
UK Conservation Status -
Flight Period: UK-Cornwall-Late May-Early July : UK-Elsewhere-Beginning June-3rd week July : Southern areas of Range-Mid May-September
Habitat: Heathland : Woodland clearings : Grassland
Overwinters as: Early stage larva
Ovum: The heavily laden female usually deposits a batch of,up to 100 ova on the underside of a Bramble leaf close to the larval food plant.The pale green eggs turn a light yellow before hatching in two to three weeks.
Larva: Mid July-Early June : Fully grown larva 23-27mm : The newly hatched larvae move to a nearby food plant and produce a silk web before dispersing into smaller group where they again produce a silk web.The larvae hibernate after about another month of feeding.They emerge in March or April where, on warm days they can be found basking to raise their temperature in order to digest their food much like the Marsh Fritillary. They are fully grown by May.
Pupa: The pupal stage is formed on the ground amongst leaves and twigs.The beautiful pupa is resplendent with its white background interlace with marking in black and red.
Overwinters as: Early stage larva
Observations: As one of the smallest fritillaries the Heath Fritillary is easily recognised by its dusky wing colour and pattern that can be variable in their species.
In Europe the butterfly is widespread,found on many different habitat types and in some areas is the commonest butterfly.
In England,being on the edge of its range, the Heath Fritillary is one of our rarest butterflies, found only on a few sites in Kent,Essex,Devon and Cornwall and has been saved from extinction only by the concerted action of conservationists.
The butterflies found in the West Country are restricted to heathland or rich grassland whereas the in Kent and Essex they are found in woodland clearings.
The butterfly requirement for "warm areas" are fulfilled when small patches of heath are burnt or woodland clearings coppiced, which gave the butterfly the name of "Woodman's Follower" as they moved into these cleared woodland,heathland areas.
Larval food plants used by this butterfly in woodland areas are Foxglove and Common Cow-wheat wheres in other areas the larvae tend to feed on Germander Speedwell and Ribwort Plantain.
Worldwide Distribution: Europe : Russia : Temperate Asia : Japan.
UK Distribution: Restricted to a few sites in Cornwall : Devon : Essex : Kent : Exmoor
UK Conservation Status -
- NERC S.41 : 2008 (England) - Species "of principle importance for the purpose of conserving biodiversity
- RDB2 ( 1980/93 ) = 6 - 10 10Km Squares
- BAP : 2007 - Priority Species
- Endangered - Butterfly Red List for Great Britain 2010
- Fully Protected in Great Britain
- Least Concern
- Papilio athalia (Rottemburg 1775)
- Papilio cinxia (Linnaeus, 1758)
- France-Paris
Flight Period: UK-Cornwall-Late May-Early July : UK-Elsewhere-Beginning June-3rd week July : Southern areas of Range-Mid May-September
Habitat: Heathland : Woodland clearings : Grassland
Overwinters as: Early stage larva
Ovum: The heavily laden female usually deposits a batch of,up to 100 ova on the underside of a Bramble leaf close to the larval food plant.The pale green eggs turn a light yellow before hatching in two to three weeks.
Larva: Mid July-Early June : Fully grown larva 23-27mm : The newly hatched larvae move to a nearby food plant and produce a silk web before dispersing into smaller group where they again produce a silk web.The larvae hibernate after about another month of feeding.They emerge in March or April where, on warm days they can be found basking to raise their temperature in order to digest their food much like the Marsh Fritillary. They are fully grown by May.
Pupa: The pupal stage is formed on the ground amongst leaves and twigs.The beautiful pupa is resplendent with its white background interlace with marking in black and red.
Overwinters as: Early stage larva
Observations: As one of the smallest fritillaries the Heath Fritillary is easily recognised by its dusky wing colour and pattern that can be variable in their species.
In Europe the butterfly is widespread,found on many different habitat types and in some areas is the commonest butterfly.
In England,being on the edge of its range, the Heath Fritillary is one of our rarest butterflies, found only on a few sites in Kent,Essex,Devon and Cornwall and has been saved from extinction only by the concerted action of conservationists.
The butterflies found in the West Country are restricted to heathland or rich grassland whereas the in Kent and Essex they are found in woodland clearings.
The butterfly requirement for "warm areas" are fulfilled when small patches of heath are burnt or woodland clearings coppiced, which gave the butterfly the name of "Woodman's Follower" as they moved into these cleared woodland,heathland areas.
Larval food plants used by this butterfly in woodland areas are Foxglove and Common Cow-wheat wheres in other areas the larvae tend to feed on Germander Speedwell and Ribwort Plantain.
Subspecies
M. a. athalia Rottemburg, 1751-S England to W France : Apennines : Balkans : Denmark : S Fennoscandia, across
C Europe to Ural Mountains,Caucasus,Transcaucasia & Asia Minor
M. a. athalia Rottemburg, 1751-S England to W France : Apennines : Balkans : Denmark : S Fennoscandia, across
C Europe to Ural Mountains,Caucasus,Transcaucasia & Asia Minor
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.
- Orabanchaceae - Broomrape Family
- Melampyrum pratense - Common Cow-Wheat - Parasitic Plant
- Melampyrum sylvaticum - Small Cow-Wheat
- Plantaginaceae - Plantain Family
- Plantago lanceolata - Ribwort Plantain - English Plantain
- Scrophulariaceae - Figwort Family
- Digitalis ferruginea - Rusty Foxglove
- Digitalis lutea - Yellow Foxglove
- Digitallis purpurea - Foxglove
- Linaria vulgaris - Yellow Toadflax
- Veronica chamaedrys - Germander Speedwell - Bird's eye Speedwell
- Veronica montana - Mountain Speedwell
- Veronica officinalis - Common Speedwell
- Note - Larvae also feed on the following plant families
- Asteraceae - Compositae - Centaurea - Thistles
- 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: Nominate Subspecies: Literary Ref: Type Locality: Aberrations: Subspecies: |
Animalia
Eumetozoa Arthropoda Hexapoda Insecta Lepidoptera Papilionoidea Nymphalidae Melitaeinae Melitaeini Melitaeina MELITAEA Fabricius, 1807 Melitaea athalia (Rottemburg, 1775) - Papilio cinxia (Linnaeus, 1758) - PAPILIO athalia (Rottemburg 1775) = Mellicta athalia (Rottemburg, 1775) = Papilio athalia Rottemburg, 1775 = Papilio leucippe Schneider, 1789 = Melitaea fulla Quensel, 1791 = Papilio eos Haworth, 1803 = Melitaea tessellata Stephens, 1827 = Melitaea navarina De Selys, 1837 = Melitaea melanina Herrich-Schäffer, 1847 = Melitaea norvegica Aurivillius 1888 = Melitaea obsoleta Tutt, 1896 = Melitaea virgata Tutt, 1896 = Melitaea tricolor Hormuzaki, 1897 = Melitaea boris Fruhstorfer 1917 = Melitaea athalia conica Matsumura, 1929 = Melitaea athalia flavescens Matsumura, 1929 = Mellicta athalia mod. satyra Higgins, 1955 = Melitaea neglecta Pfau 1962 - MELITAEA Fabricius 1807-Genus = Cinclidia Hübner 1818 = Mellicta Billberg 1820 = Athaliaeformis Verity 1950 = Didymaeformis Verity 1950 - Papilio athalia athalia Rottemburg 1775 - Anmerkungen zu den Hufnagelischen Tabellen der Schmetterlinge. Erste Abtheilung : Der Naturforscher 6: 1-34, Tab. I Halle. : Title Page : p.5 - France-Paris - M.a. alba Rehfous, 1908 M.a. atrovittata Turati, 1910 M.a. cymathoe Bertolini, 1829 M.a. latonigena Spuler, 1901 M.a. nigrathalia Johnstone, 1944 M.a. permixta Stauder, 1922 M.a. radiata Eisner, 1942 M.a. sohana Cabeau, 1922 M.a. tectensis Cabeau, 1922 - M.a.athalia Rottemburg, 1751-S England to W France : Apennines : Balkans : Denmark : S Fennoscandia,across C Europe to Ural Mts,Caucasus,Transcaucasia & Asia Minor : Extinct in Belgium M.a.celadussa Fruhstorfer, 1910-C & N Spain : N Portugal : S France : S Switzerland & N W Italy M.a.nevadensis Oberthür, 1904-Sierra Nevada : S Spain M.a.norvegica Aurivillius, 1888-C & N Fennoscandia,N W Russin Federation M.a.dictynnoides Hormuzaki 1898– south-west Europe M.a.licufuga Fruhstorfer 1917– south-east Europe M.a.reticulata Higgins 1955 – Altai M.a.baikalensis Bremer 1961– southern Siberia to Amur M.a.hyperborea Dubatolov 1997– Magadan Region & Kamchatka |