(Godart, 1819)
Spanish Fritillary
Description:
The Spanish Fritillary occurs on open, grassy places with stony soil and lots of shrubs. It uses various food plants, such as Cephalaria leucantha and C. syriaca, the teasels Dipsacus fullonum and D. comasus, scabious (Scabiosa and Knautia spp.) and possibly knapweeds (Centaurea spp.).
The female lays her eggs in small batches on the underside of leaves. The caterpillars live in a communal spun nest, also hibernating there.
There is one brood a year.
Habitat:
Evergreen woodland
Dry calcareous grasslands
Heath and shrub
Sclerophyllous scrub
Similar species:
Euphydryas aurinia