Page 252 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

BUTTERFLY CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Nymphalidae
DISTRIBUTION North Africa, across Europe, Middle East, and northern Asia
(Russia and Mongolia)
HABITAT Open grassland on thin, rocky soils, and subalpine meadows
HOST PLANTS Ribwort Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) and speedwell
(Veronica spp.)
NOTE Spiny, black caterpillar that lives in a silken web
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated, but locally endangered

ADULT WINGSPAN
1½–1⅞ in (38–47 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
1 in (25 mm)
MELITAEA CINXIA
GLANVILLE FRITILLARY
250
(LINNAEUS, 1758)

Glanville Fritillary caterpillars hatch from clusters of between
50 and 200 yellow eggs laid on the underside of a leaf of the
host plant. The caterpillars are gregarious, staying together
within a silk web that they spin over the host plant and in
which they feed. They are often spotted basking on the surface
Actual size
on sunny days. The larvae spin a silk tent within tall grass, where
they overwinter, becoming active again in spring. The mature

The Glanville Fritillary caterpillar is easily caterpillars are solitary and when disturbed roll up into a ball and
recognized, with its red head and prolegs and drop to the ground. They pupate on the host plant, attached to
black, spiny body. The body has rings of black
tubercles bearing many black spines, alternating a stem, or they drop to the ground around the plant and pupate
with rings of white spots.
within the leaf litter.

The orange, black, and white chequer-patterned adults are on
the wing between May and July. There is usually one generation
in the northern part of the Glanville Fritillary’s range, but two
generations appear in the south. The species, named for Lady
Eleanor Glanville (ca. 1654–1709), an English entomologist,
is in decline across much of its range due to loss of habitat.
In the United Kingdom, it is now restricted to the Isle of Wight.