Range:
This species ranges from southern Alaska south to California, Utah, most of
Idaho, and northern New Mexico, and east
to southwestern Manitoba.
Habitat:
It can be found in middle and high elevation meadows, sagebrush steppe, and prairies.
Diet:
Caterpillar:
Caterpillars feed on the leaves of several species of violets (Viola
spp.).
Adult:
Butterflies drink flower nectar, and obtain additional moisture and salts
from mud.
Ecology:
There is one new generation of caterpillars each year. Eggs hatch in the
fall; the newly emerged caterpillars, having not yet fed, enter a physiological
state called diapause
to overwinter. In the spring the young caterpillars feed on the new leaves of
host plants.
Adults generally fly
from the first of June through October. The butterflies are capable of flying
significant distances. Fritillaries are long-lived for a butterfly, surviving
several weeks to months.
Reproduction:
Males actively patrol
low to the ground in search of receptive females. pheromones
,
chemicals used to locate and attract the opposite sex, are produced by both
male and female Fritillaries. These chemicals are believed to play an important
role in assisting these butterflies to find and recognize other members of their
own species. Eggs are laid singly and randomly near host plants. In cases where
the violet plant has already withered and blown away, females are still able
to lay their eggs near to where the host plant will reappear the next spring.
This is possible, it is believed, because females are able to locate violet
roots by smell!
Conservation:
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Global Rank: | G5; populations are widespread, abundant, and secure. |
Opler, P. A., H. Pavulaan, and R. E. Stanford. 1995. Butterflies of North America. Jamestown, North Dakota, USA: Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Home Page. http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/bflyusa.htm (Version 05Nov98).
Opler, P. A. and A. B.Wright. 1999. A Field Guide to the Western Butterflies. Second Edition. Peterson Field Guide Series. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, New York, USA, 540 pp.
Pyle, R. M. 1981. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, New York, USA, 924 pp.
Scott, J. A. 1986. The Butterflies of North America. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, USA, 583 pp.
Stanford, R. E. and P. A. Opler. 1993. Atlas of Western U.S.A. Butterflies (Including Adjacent Parts of Canada and Mexico). Published by authors, Denver, Colorado, USA, 275 pp.