''Melitaea trivia'', the lesser spotted fritillary, is a
butterfly of the family
Nymphalidae, part of the sub-family
Nymphalinae
The Nymphalinae are a subfamily of brush-footed butterflies (family Nymphalidae). Sometimes, the subfamilies Limenitidinae, and Biblidinae are included here as subordinate tribe(s), while the tribe Melitaeini is occasionally regarded as a distinc ...
.
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
In the scientific name of organisms, basionym or basyonym means the original name on which a new name is based; the author citation of the new name should include the authors of the basionym in parentheses. The term "basionym" is used in both botan ...
''Papilio trivia''.
Description
The
wingspan is 15–23 mm. At first sight it is somewhat similar to ''
Melitaea didyma
''Melitaea didyma'', the spotted fritillary or red-band fritillary, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae.
Description
''Melitaea didyma'' is a medium-sized butterfly with a wingspan reaching . The overside of the wings is a bright orange ...
'' 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.
[ 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)]
(MHNT) Melitaea trivia - Slovaquie - male dorsal.jpg, ''Melitaea trivia'' ♂
(MHNT) Melitaea trivia - Slovaquie - male ventral.jpg, ''Melitaea trivia'' ♂ △
(MHNT) Melitaea trivia - Slovaquie - female dorsal.jpg, ''Melitaea trivia'' ♀
(MHNT) Melitaea trivia - Slovaquie - female ventral.jpg, ''Melitaea trivia'' ♀ △
Biology
The larvae feed on ''
Verbascum'' species.
Sub-species
* ''Melitaea trivia catapelia''
Staudinger, 1886
* ''Melitaea trivia caucasi''
Verity, 1922
* ''Melitaea trivia chorosana''
Shchetkin, 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 nana''
Staudinger, 1871
* ''Melitaea trivia nativa''
Tuzov, 2000
* ''Melitaea trivia petri''
Shchetkin, 1984
* ''Melitaea trivia singularia''
Korshunov, 1995
* ''Melitaea trivia uvarovi''
Gorbunov, 1995
Common names
*In German: ''Braunlicher Scheckenfalter''
*In French: ''Mélitée du bouillon-blanc''
*In English: ''Lesser Spotted Fritillary'' or ''Desert Fritillary''
References
External links
Butterflies of Europe AdaMerOs-Butterflies of Turkey
Melitaea
Butterflies of Europe
Butterflies described in 1775
{{Nymphalinae-stub