Which fritillary?

[Ukwildlifeo]

Spotted this at St. David's Head, pembroke


Any idea of the species?

[RobinP]

Off the top of my head, I would guess at Dark Green Fritillary, but I could be very wrong!

Robin

[GuyF]

It's a male Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, nice one!
Guy

[Ukwildlifeo]

Thanks for the help folks

Originally Posted by GuyF

It's a male Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, nice one!
Guy

Could you tell me how to tell, as the upper wings all look the same to me in the moth book I own!

[leifus]

Originally Posted by GuyF

It's a male Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, nice one!
Guy

Originally Posted by Ukwildlifeo

Thanks for the help folks



Could you tell me how to tell, as the upper wings all look the same to me in the moth book I own!

agreed

pearl-bordered and small pearl-bordered fritillaries are very similar in size but are smaller than the dark green/silver-washed etc

to tell between the two looking at the upperwing (as in your photo), look at the border. In PB the border isn't very obvious, but in SPB the border of orange circles have a heavy black outline, making the border really stand out.

Hope that makes sense!

[GuyF]

There is also a subtle difference in the layout of the spots on the forewing, the diagram in the similar species section at the bottom of this page - UK Butterflies - Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Boloria selene explains it much better than I'd be able to!
Guy