| Niobe fritillary | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Upperside | |
 | |
| Female, underside | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Nymphalidae |
| Genus: | Fabriciana |
| Species: | F. niobe |
| Binomial name | |
| Fabriciana niobe | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
The Niobe fritillary (Fabriciana niobe) is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae.
The Latin species name niobe refers to Niobe, daughter of Tantalus in Greek mythology. [1]
Subspecies include: [2]
Fabriciana niobe is common throughout Europe, but absent from the United Kingdom and Northern Europe, and is also found in Siberia, Russia, Iran, China, and Korea [2] These butterflies can be found in open grassy places, slopes, woodland and clearings at altitudes between sea level and 2,400 metres (7,900 ft). [3] [4] [5]
Fabriciana niobe has a wingspan of 46–60 millimetres (1.8–2.4 in). [3] The females are rather bigger and have more marked wings. [1] These medium-sized butterflies have a bright brown-orange background with black dots and crossbands, and a line of submarginal triangular patches. [6] The forewings margin shows a rounded shape. The underside of the hindwings usually has small whitish-silvery spots, a black pupilled yellow spot and black lined submarginal lunules and veins in the basal area. [5] Caterpillars have a dark basic colour with small, white spots and white thorns.
This species is rather similar to the dark-green fritillary ( Speyeria aglaja ) and high brown fritillary ( Fabriciana adippe ), [7] but it is quite smaller, the silver centred brown spots are smaller and the postdiscal silver markings are not continuous. [5]
Seitz - A. niobe L. (69c). Above very similar to aglaja, at once recognized by the much more variegated under-side. The hindwing beneath is without the even verdigris shading in the basal half, the latter bearing distinct leathery-yellow patches, which are often centred, edged or shaded with brownish green. The nymotypical form has abundant silver-spots beneath, more than aglaja, as the distal band has no silver in aglaja, while it bears silvery centres in niobe. [8]
This species is univoltine. [5] It overwinters at the caterpillar stage in the egg shell. Adults fly from May to late August. [3] The eggs are laid on the vegetation, near the host plants. The larvae hatch in March and mature in June. Caterpillars feed on Viola tricolor , Viola canina , Viola riviniana , Viola odorata , Viola hirta , Viola palustris and Plantago lanceolata . [1] [2]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .