Genus Speyeria - Greater Fritillaries

Speyeria Scudder 1872. type species: Papilio idalia Drury

Semnopsyche Scudder, 1875. TS: Papilio diana Cramer

Mesoacidalia Reuss, 1926. TS: Papilio aglaja Linnaeus

Neoacidalia Reuss, 1926. TS: Papilio cybele Fabricius

Proacidalia Reuss, 1926. TS: Argynnis clara Blanchard

Also, the following should perhaps be (and sometimes are) included in Speyeria, but are most often considered as synonyms under a separate genus - Fabriciana. All of the species concerned are Eurasian, so the debate is not particularly relevant in North America.

Fabriciana Reuss, 1920. TS: Papilio niobe Linnaeus

Prodryas Reuss, 1926; (preoccupied Prodryas Scudder, 1878). TS: Argynnis kamala Moore

Profabriciana Reuss, 1926. TS: Argynnis jainadeva Moore

Protodryas Reuss, 1928; [replaces Prodryas Reuss, 1926]. TS: Argynnis kamala Moore

Historically, and often still, Speyeria and Fabriciana (among others) have been included within the closely related Eurasian genus Argynnis.

Nearctica.com lists 14 North American species.

Butterflies and Moths of North America lists 16 species.

Most often 3 Eurasian species are also included (or 4, when S. clara & S. claudia are split). Inclusion of Fabriciana adds about 11 additional Eurasian species.

Wingspan: 3.5 - 10.5 cm.

This is one genus that is unlikely to be confused with any other. These are medium to large sized, broad-winged butterflies (most are over 2 inches in wing span, all at least nearly this large, and many species are much larger). Most have a distinctive pattern of black dashes and spots above and with rounded or oval (usually silvered) pale spots below, particularly on the hind wing. There are a few species in which colors may be modified from the usual orange ground, and several in which light spots below may be unsilvered. In S. diana the pattern and coloring are highly modified, but this species is also very distinctive and recognizable at a glance. Only one genus in north America is closely similar enough to sometimes be confused; (Boloria is composed of much smaller species, which mostly have unsilvered pale spots below that are not rounded (B. selene & B eunomia are most like Speyeria in coloring, but are never very much over an inch in wing span).

The genus Euptoieta does not have a pattern of rounded white spots below, but rather a blended camouflage pattern of stripes and lines, and the wings are longer and narrower. It is also a genus of multi-brooded species, mostly favoring warmer lower or more southerly regions, and not so much the northern and high elevation regions favored by Speyeria and Boloria (though sometimes they fly together).

Checkerspots can be confused with Fritillaries too (and are also called "Fritillaries" by the British), but they are also much smaller than Speyeria, and the pattern below is always distinctly different (see photos under tribe Melitaeini). The upper side does not have a row of rounded spots near the outer edge of both the front and hind wings as in Fritillaries.

Cool temperate and boreal regions of North America and Eurasia. [Some authors recognize only American species as belonging to the genus.]

One brood from mid-June to mid-September

Caterpillar food plants are Violets, Viola species.

Adults feed mostly on nectar and are avid visitors of flowers. They often gather in numbers on Composites (family Asteraceae). Occasionally they may visit moist mineral rich ground as well.

Oviposition is in summer to autumn (varying with the species), mostly in grassy areas near or on Violet plants. First stage caterpillars apparently don't feed, and overwinter until spring, when they start feeding on the growing food plant, and mature quickly.

Speyeria at Butterflies of America

Butterflies and Moths of North America.

Speyeria at Markku Savala's site "Lepidoptera and some other Life Forms"

Fabriciana at Markku Savala's site "Lepidoptera and some other Life Forms"