Yes, this is a post about the spotted fritillary, a butterfly from the Nymphalidae family. The scientific name of the species is Melitaea didyma. Since Nymphalidae is the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species, I would like to specify that Melitaea didyma belongs to the Melitaeini tribe of the Nymphalinae subfamily within the Nymphalidae family. If you remember, I published a post about the similar-looking Boloria dia butterfly from the same family. The following link can take you to that recent post if you wish to check it for comparison. https://ecency.com/@borjan/a-beautiful-brush-footed-butterfly When I started conceiving this post I'm writing right now, I was convinced that its protagonist, the Melitaea didyma, would be closely related to Boloria dia, at least part of the same subfamily if not in the same tribe, but the superficial similarity can be very deceiving in nature, especially when it comes to insects. After a quick internet search, I found out that these two butterflies only look alike due to the similar size and the checkered pattern on their wings, but they belong to entirely different subfamilies. Their genetic divergence is deep, meaning they are distant evolutionary cousins rather than close relatives. When it comes to the Melitaea didyma dietary habits, the larvae feed on various plants, including Linaria, Plantago lanceolata, Veronica, Centaurea jacea, and Digitalis purpurea. The adults feed on nectar wherever they can find it and collect it, which means they visit a wide variaty of flowers. The larva you'll see in this post was photographed on the stem of grass, but I remember that grass being close to the Plantago lanceolata leaves. In general, I see these caterpillars mostly on Plantago lanceolata here in my area. The spotted fritillary was once very numerous here where I live. Nowadays is still one of the most common species, but the number of butterflies is so low that I don't see it very often.
And that's all. Hope you like caterpillars as well, not only butterflies. As always on Hive, the photographs are my work.
