Pearl-bordered fritillary
The pearl-bordered fritillary is an orange butterfly with black spots. Under its back wings it has a row of shiny silver marks along the edge, like a string of pearls. It is one of the first fritillaries to fly in spring.
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Fun facts
Males have special scent patches on their wings so females of the same kind can find them.
The caterpillar is black with white or yellow spikes along its back.
The caterpillar sleeps through the winter in a dry curled leaf and loses half its weight before spring.
Mothers lay their eggs one by one on dead bracken or leaves near violets.
It has become very rare in England and Wales, so people cut paths in the bracken to help violets grow for it.
Most asked questions about Pearl-bordered fritillary
?Why is it called pearl-bordered?
Because of the row of shiny silver marks along the edge under its back wings.
?What does the pearl-bordered fritillary eat?
The butterfly drinks nectar. The caterpillars eat violet leaves.
?When does the pearl-bordered fritillary fly?
From late April to June, and sometimes again in August.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Boloria euphrosyne
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Pearl-bordered fritillary (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Iain Lawrie. CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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