Which butterfly is an Aphrodite Fritillary?
- Left
- Right
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Click below to reveal the answer to this weeks’ quiz!
The butterfly on the right is the aphrodite fritillary!
One key to identifying these two species is looking for a black basal spot on the upperside forewing. This feature is most commonly found on males. In the pictures above, you can see the butterfly on the right has a small black dot just below the innermost black stripe at the top of the wing, which is absent on the butterfly on the left, the great spangled fritillary.
The aphrodite fritillary is usually smaller than the great spangled fritillary, although the two species can overlap in size.
Some etymology in your entomology
The name fritillary comes from the latin word, fritillus, meaning chessboard, a reference to the patterns on their wings.
The latin name for the genus, Speyeria, is named after Adolph Speyer, a 19th century lepidopterist, who ironically mostly studied skippers.
The latin species name for the great spangled fritillary, cybele, likely comes from the Anatolian (and later adopted by Greece) mother goddess, Cybele, who was associated with mountains, walls, nature and wild animals, especially lions.
The latin species name for the aphrodite fritillary, aphrodite, is unsurprisingly from the Greek goddess of beauty.
Photo credits:
Great Spangled Fritillary by Jack Beusmans (iNaturalist)
Aphrodite Fritillary by Jack Beusmans (iNaturalist)
Ready for next weeks’ quiz? Click here!
okay, I found this one hard. So hard, I got it wrong. Tough to notice that black dot in the field.
It is, especially with the wear on the wing in the area!