Page 200 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

BUTTERFLY CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Nymphalidae
DISTRIBUTION
DIS TRIBUTION Across Europe and northern Asia to Russian Far East
DISTRIBUTION
HABITAT
HABITAT T Woodland clearings, margins, and tracks; and recently
HABIT
A
coppiced wood with open ground and bracken
HOS
T PLANT
HOST PLANTS S Violet (Viola spp.)
HOST PLANTS
NO
NOTE Dark, bristly caterpillar that feeds during the day
TE
NOTE
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated, but endangered in parts of its range
CONSERVATION STATUS
CONSERV
TION S
TUS
A
T
A
ADULT WINGSPAN
1½–1⅞ in (38–47 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
1 in (25 mm) BOLORIA EUPHROSYNE
PEARL-BORDERED
FRITILLARY
198
(LINNAEUS, 1758)
Caterpillars of the Pearl-bordered Fritillary hatch from pale
yellow eggs laid singly either on the host plant or on the
surrounding leaf litter, especially bracken (Pteridium aquilinum).
The larvae are active by day, feeding around the base of violet
leaves and creating a characteristic pattern of leaf damage that
Actual size
gives away their presence. They molt three times and then
overwinter in a dry, rolled-up leaf. Feeding resumes early
in spring, before the caterpillars pupate in the leaf litter.

The adult butter ies, which get their name from the white, pearl-
like spots on the underside of the hindwing, are active from April
to June, while a second generation may be seen in August. The
species is under threat from the loss of suitable habitat and
the decline in traditional woodland management, especially
coppicing, which creates the open, sunny conditions needed

The Pearl-bordered Fritillary caterpillar is dark, by the low-growing host plants. Once the ground becomes
almost black, in color. Sometimes there are pale overgrown and dense, the butter y disappears.

brown hues along the ventral surface. Each
segment has a ring of small, yellow tubercles,
each bearing a tuft of black, bristly hairs.