''Boloria chariclea'', the Arctic fritillary or purplish fritillary, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in the northern parts of the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

and

Nearctic realm The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America t ...

Description

The uppersides of the wings are orange brown with small dark markings in neat rows. The underside of the forewing is orange with dark markings. The underside of the hindwing has a margin of small white spots topped with brown. Inside this are black inwardly pointing triangles with scant white areas. The median band is pale yellow brown to rusty brown mottled with white and with wavy, sometimes broken, black lines. The length of the forewings is about . The butterfly flies from July to August depending on the location.

Distribution and habitat

The Arctic fritillary has a Holarctic distribution. In Europe it is found in northern Lapland and Russia. In North America it is found in Alaska and much of Canada, the north Cascades, the Rocky Mountains southwards to Utah and northern New Mexico, northern Minnesota, northern Maine and the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Its typical habitat is tundra, taiga,

alpine meadow Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alpine tundra gets ...

s, stream verges and acid bogs.

Life cycle

The males patrol along the edges of bogs and in valleys and wait for the arrival of females. The eggs are laid singly underneath the leaves of the host plant. In North America the larvae feed on viola species, dwarf willows (''Salix'') and possibly

blueberries Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' within the genus ''Vaccinium''. ''Vaccinium'' also includes cranberries, bi ...

(''Vaccinium'') while in Europe it is believed to feed on yellow wood violet (''Viola biflora'') and

Arctic white heather ''Cassiope tetragona'' (common names include Arctic bell-heather, white Arctic mountain heather and Arctic white heather) is a plant native to the high Arctic and northern Norway, where it is found widely. Growing to 10–20 cm in height ...

(''Cassiope tetragona''). Depending on location, the larvae take one or two years to develop into adults, newly hatched caterpillars hibernate during the first winter and fourth-stage caterpillars hibernate during the second.

Subspecies

*''B. c. chariclea'' Arctic Europe *''B. c. arctica'' (Zetterstedt, 1839) Arctic Asia, Wrangel Island, Chukotka *''B. c. butleri'' (Edwards, 1883) Arctic America, Chukotka, Kamchatka *''B. c. boisduvalii'' (Duponchel, 1832) Alaska, Alberta, Labrador, Newfoundland, Minnesota, British Columbia *''B. c. rainieri '' (Barnes & McDunnough, 1913) Washington *''B. c. grandis'' (Barnes & McDunnough, 1916) North British Columbia, Ontario *''B. c. montina'' (Scudder, 1863) *''B. c. helena '' (Edwards, 1871) Rocky Mountains

References

External links

Butterflies of EuropeButterflies and Moths of North America
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2173704 Boloria Butterflies of Europe Butterflies of North America Insects of the Arctic Butterflies described in 1794