Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Beautiful Fritillary Butterfly

By: Tom Berg

Most butterflies are beautiful – but the various species of fritillary butterflies really take it to the next level. Many of them are dazzling! There are 14 species of greater fritillaries and 16 species of lesser fritillaries. The particular species of fritillary shown here is a lovely Great Spangled Fritillary, so we will talk mostly about that one.

The great spangled fritillary is bright orange with many black bands and spots on its wings. The undersides of the hind wings also have very cool silver spots on them. It is found throughout most of the central United States from the west coast to the east coast.  Although sometimes mistaken for monarch butterflies when seen from a distance, these fritillaries are smaller and have a lot more spots than a monarch. Monarchs also have an unmistakable black border around their forewings and hindwings.

Great spangled fritillaries prefer similar habitats to other common butterflies. They like moist pastures and meadows, mowed right-of-ways, woodland edges, prairies and sunny wetlands. Adults are attracted to the nectar of a variety of flowering plants and wildflowers. Some of their favorites include milkweed, thistle, bee balm, Joe-pye weed, butterfly weed and many others.

Females lay their eggs near native violet plants like the common blue violet and the arrow-leaf violet, among others. The adult butterfly typically does not lay eggs directly on the violet plants, because the caterpillars do not feed at all until the following spring.  The caterpillars overwinter under leaves and other ground clutter, and the following spring they climb onto the nearby violet plants and begin eating their leaves.  Surprisingly, the adults don’t live very long at all. Adults usually only live for 30-45 days.

So if you would like to attract fritillaries and other butterflies and pollinators to your yard, plant more native wildflowers. Just be sure to plant some violets, too, so the great spangled fritillary caterpillars will have something good to eat next spring.

Have you had a great out experience? Join Global Outdoors and write a review to tell everyone about it! We’re building the home for trusted reviews of outdoor experiences, outfitters, and guides.