The White Mountains are one of my favorite places (but I have a lot of favorite places). One thing about S. aphrodite and S. mormonia in the White Mountains (and elsewhere for that matter). Generally the S. mormonia are more at home higher up than the others. If there are a lot of Mormons around, often there are few or no S. aphrodite, and visa-versa. The real challenge is the S. hesperis vs. the S. aphrodite there. The S. hesperis is everywhere, mostly way bigger than in places further north, and they look very very similar to the S. aphrodite, especially the females. There is S. nokomis in that area too, but the males usually don't show up till around mid August, and the females are fresh near the end of September. You might pick up a few in July, but that's very early for those.

I suspected as much. Even though I've seen at least three congeneric species side-by-side, ecologic theory would suggest that habitats would be partitioned by closly related species. Studying this genus in the White Mountains would take more time & energy than I have but I'll be looking just the same. Too bad I'll probably miss the nokomis but I'll study-up anyway, just in case.

Thanks,

David.

I don't know about these matters which is why I'm asking. My Mormon Fritillary specimen is bordered by large light spots....

Hi, Your other photo is definitely S. mormonia, but it is a female. The more orange photo is a male. The females tend to be a bit more yellowish in hue, and the dark markings are more pronounced, often the borders are black in female Fritillaries but not males, or the black is more pronounced. Often the females and males look so totally different above that it is difficult to believe that they are the same. Below they are usually more similar, at least in most species. Beautiful photos by the way.
Check out these; different subspecies, but similar: