(Esper, 1799)
Bog Fritillary
Description:
The Bog Fritillary occurs on wet grasslands and marshy ground by streams, rivers, or lakes, and at the edges of raised bogs. Sometimes, the area they occupy is very small. They can be seen beside streams, flying slowly back and forth between small patches where its food plant Common Bistort or Snake-root (Polygonum bistorta) is growing.
The small caterpillars live together in a loosely spun nest, and hibernate when half-grown. However, the larger, later caterpillars are solitary and considerably more mobile, frequently leaving their food plants in order to bask in the sun on another plant.
The Bog Fritillary has one generation a year.
There are two subspecies, the smaller, more brightly marked B. e. eunomia, and B. e. ossiana, that occurs in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Baltic countries.
Habitat:
Raised bogs
Fens
Humid grasslands
Similar species:
Unmistakable