Boloria titania

Boloria titania, the Titania's fritillary or purple bog fritillary, is a butterfly of the subfamily Heliconiinae of the family Nymphalidae.

Boloria titania
Dorsal view
Ventral view
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Boloria
Species:
B. titania
Binomial name
Boloria titania
(Esper, 1793)
Synonyms
  • Clossiana titania
  • Boloria (clossiana) titania

Description

The adult is a small fritillary with typically chequered orange-brown upperside and a marginal row of triangles and dots. The length of the forewings is 21–23 mm. The underside has brown pearly spots and triangular markings at the edge of the hindwings.

Description in Seitz
For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

A. amathusia Esp. (= diana Hbn., titania Esp., dia major Esp.) (68e). Above similar to large specimens of euphrosyne. The hindwing beneath very characteristic, being strongly variegated with purple, its distal band deeply dentate on both sides and bearing purple-brown partly pale-centred dots. In the nymotypical form the forewing beneath also shows at the distal margin pointed teeth which project far on to the disc... In the Alps. — bivina Fruhst. is the eastern European form; smaller, paler, with somewhat thinner lilac markings; darker beneath, the median band of the hindwing more uniformly yellow, not being variegated with red; from Saratow. — In sibirica Stgr.[B. titania ssp. staudingeri Wnukowsky, 1929] (68f) the band occupying the distal area much less deeply and more evenly indented on both sides; from the mountains of South-West Siberia.[1]

  • Dosal side
    Dosal side
  • Ventral side
    Ventral side

Distribution

This species is present in the Palearctic realm[2] from central Europe to Siberia and the Altai. In Europe it forms small isolates in the Alps, southern Finland, Latvia, Poland, and the Balkans.

Subspecies
  • Clossiana titania titania
  • Clossiana titania bivina (Fruhstorfer, 1908) central and southern Europe
  • Clossiana titania miyakei (Matsumura, 1919) Sakhalin, Amur
  • Clossiana titania staudingeri (Wnukowsky, 1929) southern Siberia[3]

Biology

The butterfly flies in subalpine meadows from June to August depending on the location. The larvae feed on Viola species, Vaccinium uliginosum, Bistorta major, Filipendula ulmaria and Trollius asiaticus.[3]

Etymology

Named in the Classical tradition. In Greek mythology Titanide, is a daughter of the Titans. Her sisters are Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Tethys.

References
  1. Seitz. A. in Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter, 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren)Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. Fauna Europaea
  3. "Clossiana Reuss, 1920" Archived 2017-03-01 at the Wayback Machine at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Boloria titania.
  • Guide des papillons d'Europe et d'Afrique du Nord, Delachaux et Niestlé, Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.