Variegated fritillary
The variegated fritillary is an orange butterfly checkered with black lines and spots. It flies low and fast over fields and meadows. It is very shy and darts away when you try to get close.
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Fun facts
Its caterpillar is red with white spots and has six rows of black spines, plus two long clubbed spines on its head.
The chrysalis is shiny white with small black spots and tiny orange and gold bumps.
Grown-up butterflies spend the winter in the south and fly north again every spring and summer.
It can have two or three families of babies in one year.
Most asked questions about Variegated fritillary
?What does a variegated fritillary eat?
The butterfly drinks nectar from flowers. The caterpillar eats violets, passionflowers and other plants.
?Why is the variegated fritillary hard to catch?
It is very easily scared and flies off low and fast when anyone comes near.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Euptoieta claudia
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
Where the facts come from
- Euptoieta claudia (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 Meganmccarty. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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