Silver-washed fritillary
The silver-washed fritillary is a big orange butterfly with black spots. Underneath, its back wings are green with shiny silver stripes. It is a strong flier and glides high over the treetops in sunny woods.
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Fun facts
The mother does not lay her eggs on violets. She lays them in cracks of tree bark, close to where violets grow.
When the caterpillar hatches in late summer, it goes straight to sleep for the whole winter without eating.
In spring the caterpillar drops to the ground and finds violets to eat at the bottom of the tree.
The caterpillar is dark brown with yellow stripes and long spines.
Some females are grey green instead of orange.
Most asked questions about Silver-washed fritillary
?Why is it called silver-washed?
Because the underside of its back wings has shiny silver stripes on green.
?What does the silver-washed fritillary eat?
The butterfly drinks nectar, especially from brambles and thistles. The caterpillar eats violets.
?How big is the silver-washed fritillary?
Its wings measure about 5 to 7 centimetres across.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Argynnis paphia
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Silver-washed fritillary (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Uoaei1. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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