Lesser Spotted Fritillary (Melitaea trivia) | Species | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Male. Taken at Rupite, Bulgaria, on July 21st 2015. (1/200th sec at f13. © David Hastings)  Male underside. Taken in the Vercors Natural Park, France, on July 23rd 2018. (1/200th sec at f13. © David Hastings)  Female. Taken near Petrovo, Bulgaria, on July 21st 2015. (1/320th sec at f13. © David Hastings)  Mating pair. Taken in Bulgaria on June 18th 2014. (1/320th sec at f11. © David Hastings) DescriptionFamily: Heliconiinae Wing span: 35 - 45mm The Lesser Spotted Fritillary is so called because of the variable black markings on its wings. The sexes are similar. It is common in SE Europe, from Greece and Turkey in the south to southern Ukraine and Poland in the north. It is more sporadic in Italy and northern Spain. it is found in hot, dry meadows and other grassland, fallow land and waste ground, rocky scrub, forest margins and rocky slopes up to 2300m. It typically has two broods per year, April-May and June-September. In Greece, a third brood is possible. The larva in the over-wintering stage. The larvae feed on a variety of Mulleins (Verbascum spp.) Sightings
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