Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele)

Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) – click to enlarge

I had difficulty identifying this butterfly since it reminded me so much of the Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos) that I identified last year. I actually threw my arms up in the air and said “Yes!” when I did ID it – felt like I was 13 again.

What is it about butterflies that attracts us? I stood in the field yesterday watching one fly so incredibly randomly, flipping this way and that, as if to make a leaf on the wind ashamed – I couldn’t imagine any predator ever catching it. Perhaps, unwittingly, that’s why the butterfly effect became part of chaos theory (and not the standard “movement of a wing cascading into large events”).

Identifiers: Characterized by orange color above with five black dashes near fore wing base and several irregular black dashes at the base of the hind wing. Two rows of black crescents run along the edges of the wings. Underside of hindwing with wide pale submarginal band and large silver spots. Females tend to be darker than males.

Species: Speyeria cybele – Cybele was an Anatolian goddess

Gender: A male I believe, by the orange antenna tips

Size: Wingspan 6-10 cm

Range: Much of North America including Alberta east to Nova Scotia, south to central California, New Mexico, central Arkansas, and northern Georgia. Most common throughout the eastern United States.

Habitat: Open moist areas including fields, prairies, valleys, pastures, right-of-ways, meadows, and open woodland.

Season: June-September

Food: Nectar from many flowers including milkweeds, thistles, ironweed, dogbane, mountain laurel, verbena, vetch, bergamot, red clover, joe-pye weed, and purple coneflower.

Life Cycle: Larvae feed on violets

References

• Butterflies and Moths of North America
• Video: Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly feeding
• Great Spangled Fritillary – Wikipedia
• BugNet