Melitaea trivia

Melitaea trivia
	female, Turkey
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Melitaea
Species:	M. trivia
Binomial name
	Melitaea trivia; Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775

Last updated November 27, 2025

Melitaea trivia, the lesser spotted fritillary, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae, part of the sub-family Nymphalinae.

Distribution

It is found in the southern part of the Palearctic realm. In Europe it is sometimes called the desert fritillary, but this name also refers to the North African relative M. deserticola .

It was first described in 1775 by entomologists Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller under the basionym Papilio trivia.^[1]

Description

The wingspan is 15–23 mm. At first sight it is somewhat similar to Melitaea didyma but the black lunules before the margin united and the disc traversed by a strongly flexuose macular band, the hindwing with abundant, connected, black markings on the disc. The female with the ground-colour centrally more or less pale, especially on the forewing.^[2]

Melitaea trivia ♂
Melitaea trivia ♂ △
Melitaea trivia ♀
Melitaea trivia ♀ △

Biology

The larvae feed on Verbascum species.

Sub-species

Melitaea trivia catapeliaStaudinger, 1886
Melitaea trivia caucasiVerity, 1922
Melitaea trivia chorosanaShchetkin, 1984
Melitaea trivia fascelis(Esper, 1783) – in the south of Europe
Melitaea trivia ignasiti Sagarra, 1926 – in the Iberian Peninsula. This taxon tends to be considered as the distinct species : Melitaea ignasiti .
Melitaea trivia nanaStaudinger, 1871
Melitaea trivia nativaTuzov, 2000
Melitaea trivia petriShchetkin, 1984
Melitaea trivia singulariaKorshunov, 1995
Melitaea trivia uvaroviGorbunov, 1995^[1]

Common names

In German: Braunlicher Scheckenfalter
In French: Mélitée du bouillon-blanc
In English: Lesser Spotted Fritillary or Desert Fritillary^[1]

References

1 2 3 4 "Melitaea trivia". funet.fi. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
↑ Seitz. A. in Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter, 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren) This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

External links

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[Funet-1] 1 2 3 4 "Melitaea trivia". funet.fi. Retrieved 5 February 2019.

[2] Seitz. A. in Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter, 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren) This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .

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