Great Spangled Fritillary

Great spangled fritillaries are relatively large butterflies with a wingspan of 5.85 to 10.1 cm and a length of 9.1 to 9.9 cm. Speyeria cybele has scalloped forewings and hindwings. The sexes are colored differently. The females of the species are paler with a dark blackish concentration on the basal half of both their forewings and hindwings. This pattern is not seen as distincly in males. Both males and females have a pale orange color on the outside of their wings. This is where their fritillary spots, black spots near the edges of the wings from whence they get their name, are found. These are black on the forewings and silver on the hindwings. Both sexes also have a pale orange underside with black spots on the forewings and broad, tan bands on the hindwings.

In their larval stage, great spangled fritillaries' caterpillars have orange spines on a black body.

Range length: 9.1 to 9.9 cm.

Range wingspan: 5.85 to 10.1 cm.

Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; heterothermic ; bilateral symmetry

Sexual Dimorphism: sexes colored or patterned differently

Great spangled fritillaries live mostly in temperate climates but can be found in extremes from the arctic to the subtropical. They can be found in both open woodlands and prairies, preferring to be in moist climates.

Habitat Regions: temperate

Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland ; forest

Great spangled fritillaries live in the temperate forests of Northern America. Their range includes almost all of Canada and the United States north of Georgia.

Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )

As mature butterflies, great spangled fritillaries, due to their large size, prefer large flowers including violets and thistles.

Similar to many other butterflies, great spangled fritillaries have chemoreceptors on the bottom surfaces of their four walking legs. These allow butterflies to find nectar with their feet. In females, these receptors are adapted to assist in reproduction.

As caterpillars, great spangled fritillaries eat the leaves of violets (Viola rotunidfolia). It does so only at night, spending the day hiding under leaves.

Plant Foods: leaves; nectar

Primary Diet: herbivore (Folivore , Nectarivore )

Speyeria cybele pollinates different types of plants.

Ecosystem Impact: pollinates

As most butterflies do, great spangled fritillaries, while feeding on nectar, pollinate the flowers they visit. This promotes diversity by making self-fertilization less likely. This benefits humans in that it keeps these species of flowers viable and alive.

Great spangled fritillaries do not have a negative effect on humans.

After hatching from their eggs, Speyeria cybele caterpillars overwinter and do not become active until the spring. Unlike most butterfly larvae, which molt five times, great spangled fritillary caterpillars molt six times, becoming bigger each time they molt until it they reach the final larval stage.

Development - Life Cycle: metamorphosis

Great spangled fritillaries are the most common fritillaries in the Eastern United States.

Males use pheromones to attract females. Visual cues are also used in mate recognition. Females use chemical cues to find a suitable host plant on which to lay eggs.

Communication Channels: visual ; chemical

Other Communication Modes: pheromones

Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; chemical

Great spangled fritillaries have an extremely large range. Some of the temperate forests and rainforests within its range are threatened, but that has not had an effect on their numbers.

US Federal List: no special status

CITES: no special status

State of Michigan List: no special status

During mating, males seek out females. A male will perch near a female and open and close his wings. This releases a "strong and spicy" scent from the male's scent scales. This aids in courtship due to recognition of and the female's attraction to this scent. Males are attracted to females based on size, color, and the frequency of the flapping of the female's wings. This allows the males to determine the females of their own species as well as the most attractive females of their species. The females have sensilla, chemoreceptors on the ventral surfaces of their forelegs. When looking for a place to lay her eggs, a female will land on a leaf and "drum" the leaf, which involves scraping the surface of the leaf. In doing this the chemoreceptors help the female to identify the plant. The sensilla occur in clusters of 4-12, and each pair of sensilla is located at the same place as a pair of spines. These spines are thought to scratch the leaf surface to allow the oils of the leaf to come into contact with the sensilla. The females lay their pale yellow eggs singly near food sources during their migration. These may be laid in late June and July, but the majority are laid in August or September.

Key Reproductive Features: gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (Internal ); oviparous

After laying eggs, butterflies exhibit no parental care.

Parental Investment: pre-fertilization (Provisioning)

Speyeria cybele is a resident across the central and northern United States and Southern Canada (Scott 1986). Habitats are transition to Canadian zone moist deciduous woods and moist meadows. Host plants are herbaceous and restricted to several species in genus Viola (Violaceae). Eggs are laid haphazardly, near the host plant, and singly. Individuals overwinter as unfed first-instar larvae. There is one flight each year with the approximate flight time June 15-Sept 15, sometimes starting May 1 in the east, and mostly July1-Aug 31 in the west (Scott 1986).

Adults sip flower nectar and occasionally dung. Males patrol for females (Scott, 1986).

Not of concern.

One flight per year, most common in early to late July.

Southern BC and central Alberta east across southern Canada and the central US to the Atlantic seaboard (Scott 1986). A disjunct population in the Peace River region of AB / BC is the northernmost in North America.

"Our largest fritillary, usually with a wingspan over 65 mm. Unlike some of the other fritillaries, cybele is relatively easy to distinguish by the contrasty, dark basal half of the dorsal hindwing; the basal dark area is smaller and more diffuse in other Speyeria. Cybele also lacks the black, angled spot nearest the anal margin on the dorsal forewing base. Two well-defined subspecies occur in Alberta, pseudocarpenteri inhabiting the parkland and northern prairies, and leto of the southern foothills and prairies. Leto has brighter orange males with smaller upperside dark markings and striking, straw and charcoal females."

Aspen parkland, shrubby prairie coulees, open woods of the fotthills and southern boreal.

Unrecorded in Alberta. The pale yellow eggs are laid near or on the host plant. First instar larvae hibernate without feeding. Mature larvae are velvety black with two pale-spotted subdorsal lines and covered with black branched spines, and feed only at night (Scott 1986).

Larvae reportedly feed on a number of violet (Viola) species (Scott 1986). It is not known which species are used in western Canada.

The great spangled fritillary (Speyeria cybele) is a North American butterfly of the family Nymphalidae.