One of the subfamilies that makes up the
brushfoot or
Nymphalidae family of butterflies is the
fritillaries or
Heliconiinae subfamily.
Fritillaries are orange butterflies with black patterns that come in a variety of sizes.
Fritillary butterflies spend much of their time out in the fields feeding on wildflowers such as , thistle,
hawkweed,
knapweed and milkweed, pictured below. Eggs are laid by the female on violets, the caterpillar host plant, usually in wooded areas.
Fritillaries overwinter in their larval form, the caterpillar going into a dormant state until spring.
The Aphrodite
fritillary can survive in a variety of different habitats which has enabled them to become fairly wide spread. In this area there is only one brood per year with the butterflies typically seen between late Jun through early September. I took these pics at Rice Lake State Park.
One of the subfamilies that makes up the brushfoot or Nymphalidae family of butterflies is the fritillaries or Heliconiinae subfamily. Fritillaries are orange butterflies with black patterns that come in a variety of sizes.
Fritillary butterflies spend much of their time out in the fields feeding on wildflowers such as , thistle, hawkweed, knapweed and milkweed, pictured below. Eggs are laid by the female on violets, the caterpillar host plant, usually in wooded areas. Fritillaries overwinter in their larval form, the caterpillar going into a dormant state until spring.
The Aphrodite fritillary can survive in a variety of different habitats which has enabled them to become fairly wide spread. In this area there is only one brood per year with the butterflies typically seen between late Jun through early September. I took these pics at Rice Lake State Park.
6 comments:
Fantastic picture of the butterfly. Think it's hard to take pictures of them, because they almost never sits still.
Nice blog you have!
Lucky you ! it's so hard to catch them !
These are very pretty, tiger colours. Must be hard to get photos of them, for them to stand still long enough to take that photo!
Happy Valentine's Day!
Gorgeous little butterfly.
What a pretty little fritillary. Great shots, and I always learn something new.
The last shot in particular is a beaut! Beautiful specimen!
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