Family: Nymphalidae, Brush-footed Butterflies view all from this family

Description 1 3/8-2" (35-51 mm). Tawny-orange to ocherous above, with black lines and dashes and broken black rim. Below, orange FW; orange-brown HW has 4 rows of metallic silver spots including a row on margin. Central silver cell spot below is elongated, submarginal dots dark.

Similar Species Bog Fritillary has silver-white (not metallic) spots below and light submarginal dots.

Life Cycle Egg, 9/256" h x 7/256" w (0.9 x 0.7 mm), cream-colored; laid on or near host plants, violets (Viola). Caterpillar, to 5/8" (16 mm), brownish-black mottled with yellow and gray; has many yellowish branching spines; overwinters half grown. Chrysalis, to 1/2" (13 mm), tan with brown and green patches.

Flight Up to 3 broods in East, Plains, and Northwest; May-September. 1 brood in Arctic and Rocky Mountains; June-August.

Habitat Moist meadows and bogs, often near woodlands or aspen scrub, sometimes wed meadows among plains or sagelands.

Range Alaska east to Newfoundland, south to Oregon, New Mexico, Illinois, and North Carolina. Holarctic: also Europe and Asia.

Discussion The Silver-bordered Fritillary is the only lesser fritillary which has bright silver spots below. It approaches the size of the greater fritillaries (Speyeria) in the Midwest but is small elsewhere. In the East, this species is usually abundant in marshy meadows but northwestern colonies are widely scattered. One colony exists in a quaking bog in the arid Columbia Basin desert, and is perhaps an Ice Age relict. Adults seek nectar from red clover, vervain, and other flowers during the morning, and court and mate shortly before sunset.