''Brenthis ino'', the lesser marbled fritillary, is a
butterfly
Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...
of the family
Nymphalidae
The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have a red ...
.
Subspecies
* ''B. i. ino'' in Europe
* ''B. i. achasis''
(Fruhstorfer, 1907)
* ''B. i. acrita''
(Fruhstorfer, 1907)
* ''B. i. adalberti''
(Fruhstorfer, 1916)
* ''B. i. amurensis''
(Staudinger, 1887)
* ''B. i. maxima''
(Staudinger, 1887)
* ''B. i. paidicus''
(Fruhstorfer, 1907)
* ''B. i. parvimarginalis''
Nakahara, 1926
* ''B. i. schmitzi''
Wagener, 1983
* ''B. i. siopelus''
(Fruhstorfer, 1907)
* ''B. i. tigroides''
(Fruhstorfer, 1907)
* ''B. i. trachalus''
(Fruhstorfer, 1916)[
]
Distribution
The lesser marbled fritillary is present in Spain, France, Italy, central and northern Europe, Siberia, temperate Asia, northern China and Japan.[Fauna europaea]
/ref>
Habitat
This species prefers damp meadows and bogs at an elevation of above sea level.
Description
''Brenthis ino'' is a medium-sized butterfly with a wingspan
The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan o ...
of . Females are larger and usually darker than males. The antennae are clavate (club shaped). The basic color of the upper side of the wings is orange with several dark brown blotches. The edges are brown too, with a discontinuous stripe of small blotches. The lower side of the wings is creamy orange with an indented edge and dark brown blotches on the forewings, while the hindwings show brown-edged beige blotches and some ringed dark brown and violet shading spots. The wings of this species lacks any silver blotches. The butterfly flies from June to August depending on the location. It overwinters in the form of caterpillar. The larvae feed on meadowsweet (''Filipendula ulmaria
''Filipendula ulmaria'', commonly known as meadowsweet or mead wort, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Rosaceae that grows in damp meadows. It is native throughout most of Europe and Western Asia (Near east and Middle east). It has ...
''), dropwort (''Filipendula vulgaris
''Filipendula vulgaris'', commonly known as dropwort or fern-leaf dropwort, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Rosaceae, closely related to meadowsweet (''Filipendula ulmaria''). It is found in dry pastures across much of Europe an ...
''), stone bramble (''Rubus saxatilis
''Rubus saxatilis'', or stone bramble, is a species of bramble widespread across Europe and Asia from Iceland and Spain east as far as China. It has also been found in Greenland.
The green stems are 20–60 cm tall and covered with minute n ...
''), raspberry (''Rubus idaeus
''Rubus idaeus'' (raspberry, also called red raspberry or occasionally European red raspberry to distinguish it from other raspberry species) is a red-fruited species of ''Rubus'' native to Europe and northern Asia and commonly cultivated in othe ...
''), ''Aruncus
''Aruncus'' is a genus of clump-forming herbaceous perennial plants in the family Rosaceae. Botanical opinion of the number of species differs, with from one to four species accepted. They are closely related to the genera '' Filipendula'' and ' ...
'' species, ''Spiraea
''Spiraea'' , sometimes spelled spirea in common names, and commonly known as meadowsweets or steeplebushes, is a genus of about 80 to 100 species '' species and salad burnet (''Sanguisorba minor
''Sanguisorba minor'', the salad burnet, garden burnet, small burnet, burnet (also used for ''Sanguisorba'' generally), pimpernelle, Toper's plant, and burnet-bloodwort, is an edible perennial herbaceous plant in the family Rosaceae. It has fe ...
'').[
]
Gallery
Brenthis ino, Violetter Silberfalter 07.JPG, Mating pair
Nymphalidae - Brenthis ino.JPG, Caterpillar
Brenthis ino MHNT CUT 2013 3 20 Espezel.jpg, Both sides
References
External links
Euro butterfliesLepiforum e. V.
Argynnini
Butterflies of Europe
Butterflies described in 1775
Taxa named by S. A. von Rottemburg
{{Heliconiinae-stub