Fritillaries , The Other Bittersweet Orange Butterfly

By Sara Wright
Image Credit: Sara Wright

I love butterflies and have always grown perennials that are good pollinators because they attract bees and butterflies as well as providing nectar for my hummingbirds. I also have milkweed plants growing in every open area on my property, and up until recently, used to raise a monarch or two from caterpillar to chrysalis to adulthood. Now that these butterflies are scarce, I no longer do. This year I note that I am seeing fewer butterflies in general, much to my dismay. A couple of exceptions are swallowtails and fritillaries.

All summer long I have been entranced by the number of fritillaries that have been fluttering through my garden since early May. Such abundance, when so many butterflies are disappearing! The days of taking any wild creature for granted are over for me, and that includes the insects I see.

 After identifying the first fritillary that visited my garden as the Great Spangled Fritillary I began noticing others; some visit a meadow across the road. Over the course of the summer, I have also seen the Meadow, Aphrodite, and Atlantic varieties.  The Great Spangled fritillary is my favorite, but I am a walking welcome mat for all that choose to visit!

Fritillaries are a large group in the butterfly family with many species that inhabit this country. All have tiny front legs that lack claws, thus the phrase used to describe them is ‘brush-footed’ butterflies. Fritillaries are medium – to large in size (wingspan can be as much 3 and ¾ inches) and their wings are bright orange or somewhat rust colored (depending upon the species) all with spots and wavy black lines. Since most fritillaries look somewhat similar it is necessary to examine wing patterns closely, something I never did until recently.  For example, fritillaries look a lot like Checkerspot and Crecent butterflies so it’s important to check some resources to be sure what you are seeing. There are excellent photos online that are well worth looking at. So much variation and such astonishing hues and patterns!

Fritillary caterpillars vary in color depending upon the species, but most feature 6 rows of branching spines that go all the way down their two-inch bodies. They are somewhat unfriendly looking to me!

Their life cycle is similar to most butterfly species with egg, larval, pupal, and adult stages. The adults are active all summer long until September. Presently they are feasting on masses of scarlet bee balm, butterfly weed, and soon my old-fashioned hydrangea will claim the rest. All my plants and flowers are blooming about a month early, so I don’t know what is going to happen next. Butterflies need their nectar and host plants to coincide. Most species overwinter as larvae (wrapped in debris/ old leaf matter) and emerge in early spring as caterpillars that only eat violets. No violets, no fritillaries. Some fritillaries are endangered. Let’s hope that Maine Governor removes violets from the invasive species list. The last thing we need is the loss of another butterfly.

Fritillary adults and caterpillars are still ‘relatively’ common in mountain meadows, fields and other weedy areas. The Great Spangled fritillary, the one I see the most, has a Latin name that means Mountain or Earth Mother. They are the most frequently seen species inhabiting Northern and Eastern states. Let’s please do everything we can to keep them around!

The adult’s mate in the summer; afterwards the females take a nap for a few weeks (diapause). In late summer or fall they lay their eggs in patches of violets. Female Great Spangled fritillaries seem to be able to find the violets even after they have wilted. It is possible that they can smell their roots. The caterpillars emerge to feed when the violet plants are young and tender in early spring. Timing is important to the hungry caterpillar. It is feared that global warming may disrupt this synchronization; this would prove catastrophic to fritillary caterpillars. Studies are underway to verify whether this is already taking place.

Because the caterpillars feed only on violets, it is helpful to have carpets of them (which I refuse to have cut in either spring or fall – basically I live in a woodland jungle) I wonder if this is why I have so many of these butterflies? The adult butterflies feed only on flower nectar. Around here they love butterfly weed, milkweed blossoms, white phlox, bee balm and hydrangeas Joe Pye weed, black eyed susans, wild thistle (also on invasive plant list) Purple coneflower are other favorites. They do not hesitate to visit lilacs and butterfly bushes either.

Because I spent four years in Northern New Mexico where I also kept a flower garden, I saw the Great Spangled fritillary a number of times especially around the milkweed I planted under the drain-pipe (it spread). They also flocked to blue flax. Oddly they also visited my nasturtium patch, a practice i have not seen repeated here. When I checked a number of sources, I learned that New Mexico has its share of fritillaries too – many more species than we have in Maine – The Great Spangled fritillary was one, although it’s a bit smaller in size. Others included the Aphrodite, Edwards, and Southwestern fritillaries. What a diverse family of butterflies. I am thoroughly hooked! Most of these fritillaries live in wet mountain meadows where they can find violets on which to lay their eggs. Sante Fe is only an hour away and those forests have many wild violets, so it is possible to see them just about anywhere. I don’t recall seeing fritillaries in the fall in Abiquiu. The adults are quite fond of blue flax. If i ever spend another winter there I would also grow violets in the hopes of attracting some over the summer. Once the violets or pansies (also members of the violet family) have bloomed even if they droop and seem to die leave them. The fritillaries can apparently smell the roots of violets and will find some to lay their eggs on.

I would love to know who else has seen these gorgeous butterflies.   With so many insects disappearing at an alarming rate I am hoping that folks that read this article will consider buying pansies or adding wild violets to their desert gardens so we give these beautiful butterflies what they need doing everything we can to keep them around!