Melitaea aurelia

Melitaea aurelia, or Nickerl's fritillary, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in central Europe.

Melitaea aurelia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Nymphalidae
Genus:
Melitaea
Species:
M. aurelia
Binomial name
Melitaea aurelia
Nickerl, 1850

Description

The wingspan is 28–32 mm. Dark russet-brown, so strongly marked with black that the ground-colour is reduced in the female to very small spots. On the whole similar to Melitaea athalia, but smaller, with the black markings deeper in tint and heavier, the ground-colour darker, more brownish; beneath the marginal line before the fringes is absent or but very indistinct. The species is recognizable by the palpi bearing foxy red hairs, while the palpi of athalia are whitish, being occasionally somewhat reddish yellow and then only at the base.[1]

  • Male
  • Male underside

Biology

The butterfly flies from June to August depending on the location. The larvae feed on Plantago lanceolata, Melampyrum pratense and yellow rattle.

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References
  1. Seitz. A. in Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter, 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren) This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.


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