''Euphydryas cynthia'', or Cynthia's fritillary, is a

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

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 ha ...

. It is found in the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

and in mountainous areas of

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

in alpine meadows from 400 to 2,300 meters.

Description

The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

is 32–42 mm. It has an orange and brown checkered upperside pattern separated by the veins and organized in lines. ''Euphydryas cynthia'' is sexually dimorphic: the male has white checkerboards in the basal and discal areas of the wing whereas the female is all checkered orange. The reverse is orange with light checkerboards, anterior and posterior in the male, only towards the posterior in the female whose anterior area is checkered more or less dark. On the upperside and the underside of the female the orange checkers of the postdiscal band are centered by a black dot. The form ''Euphydryas cynthia alpicola'' is small and presents a black suffusion on the front, the forms ''Euphydryas cynthia drenovskii'' and ''Euphydryas cynthia leonardi'' , are larger and more colourful. Euphydryas cynthia MHNT CUT 2013 3 28 Col de Granon male dorsal.jpg, Male dorsal view Euphydryas cynthia MHNT CUT 2013 3 28 Col de Granon male ventral.jpg, Male underside Euphydryas cynthia MHNT CUT 2013 3 28 Col du Lautaret female dorsal.jpg, Female dorsal view Euphydryas cynthia MHNT CUT 2013 3 28 Col du Lautaret female ventral.jpg, Female underside (MHNT) Euphydryas cynthia alpicola - Thyon 2000m - Valais Suisse - male dorsal.jpg, ''Euphydryas cynthia alpicola''- Male (MHNT) Euphydryas cynthia alpicola - Thyon 2000m - Valais Suisse - male ventral.jpg, ''Euphydryas cynthia alpicola''- Male △ (MHNT) Euphydryas cynthia alpicola - Moiry 2000m - Valais Suisse - female dorsal.jpg, ''Euphydryas cynthia alpicola''- Female (MHNT) Euphydryas cynthia alpicola - Moiry 2000m - Valais Suisse - female ventral.jpg, ''Euphydryas cynthia alpicola''- Female △

Biology

The larvae feed on ''

Plantago ''Plantago'' is a genus of about 200 species of flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae, commonly called plantains or fleaworts. The common name plantain is shared with the unrelated cooking plantain. Most are herbaceous plants, though a ...

'' species, including ''P. alpina'', and ''

Alchemilla ''Alchemilla'' is a genus of herbaceous perennial plants in the family Rosaceae, with the common name lady's mantle applied generically as well as specifically to ''Alchemilla mollis'' when referred to as a garden plant. The plant used as a herb ...

'' species. Larvae and pupae also contain three iridoid glucosides: aucubin, catalpa, and 6-O-glucopyranosylaucubin. Small amounts of these molecules have been found to make the larvae unpalatable to insect-eating predators—which may contribute to survival. It winters as a caterpillar. Development requires two seasons. It flies in a single generation from late June to early August.

Taxonomy

''E.cynthia'' is in the subgenus ''Hypodryas'' The

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

members are * '' Euphydryas maturna'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * '' Euphydryas intermedia'' =''Euphydryas ichnea'' (Boisduval, 1833) * ''Euphydryas cynthia'' (Schiffermüller, 1775) * '' Euphydryas iduna'' (Dalman, 1816) * '' Euphydryas gillettii'' (Barnes, 1897)

References

External links

Species info
Euphydryas Butterflies of Europe Butterflies described in 1775 Taxa named by Michael Denis Taxa named by Ignaz Schiffermüller {{Nymphalinae-stub