French fritillary ID - please help

[Matsukaze]

Hi All - can anyone help identify these Mellicta/Melitaea fritillaries? I have always found this group completely impossible. All three from northern Var, in the first week of May this year.

Fritillary 1 - in a large area cleared of woodland in the last couple of years, now starting to regenerate. Altitude about 650 m.

Fritillary 2 - same location, basking on the forest track. Noticeably smaller than Fritillary 1, slightly bigger than the Purple-shot Coppers that were in good numbers on the site.

Fritillary 3 - possibly Knapweed Fritillary? along a road verge with lusher vegetation. About the same size as Fritillary 1. Altitude about 480 m.

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Matsukaze,

I have edited this post several times.
Thanks for the dates and altitudes.

IDs in this group are not completely impossible but, I admit, are challenging.
Due to geographical distribution we can whittle possible candidates down to Knapweed Fritillary, Southern Heath Fritillary, Meadow Fritillary and Provençal Fritillary.
My experience with Provençal Fritillary is extremely limited.

This link can be useful for more detailed species distribution in the PACA region (including the Var) :
http://www.cen-paca.org/index.php?rub=3 ... 2_5especes

Fritillary 2 has the typical patterns and colours that I would expect to see down here for regular Southern Heath Fritillary.
For info, the taxonomy for Southern Heath Fritillary seems to be constantly changing. It has been known as M. athalia celadussa, then M. helvetica, then M. nevadensis

For Fritillary 3 the slant view of the undersides doesn't look very M. phoebe - lack of black basal dots.
However in fwd upperside space s1 there is an oblique black mark (angled backwards) which should be characteristic of M. parthenoides.
When I compare your photo with a photo of a female M. parthenoides in T. Lafranchis' Papillons de France, I manage to convince myself that it is this.

I agree with David, as below, that M. deione cannot be ruled out for Fritillary 1 (contrasted red and orange, but which is not conclusive).

Sorry I can't be of more use. Good luck.

Chris

[David M]

The latter Frit is not Knapweed. As Chris says, this species should have clearly visible black dots in the hindwing post discal band (rather like Glanvilles do). Also, the dislocation in space 3 of the upperwings is considerably sharper towards the inner wing, with the outermost line joining up with the innermost line in the space above.

I'm trying my best to think of anything other than Heath for the earlier two, but cannot realistically do so, although I haven't ruled out Provençal for the first (that doesn't mean they ARE Heaths of course; maybe Guy or Roger could give you a better indication).

[Matsukaze]

Thanks folks. Too much looking at wing venation seems to have affected my brain, as I can't imagine why I thought that third butterfly was Knapweed.

The impression I had at the time was that 1 and 2 were not the same species; they were on the same site but 2 was visibly smaller and darker. How much do these details typically vary amongst a population?

[Roger Gibbons]

I have had a quick look and would suggest that they are all Heath (athalia or whatever the new name is). This is a very common (hard to believe, maybe) and very variable species in this part of the world. Some males are very small and very dark indeed. Provencal is very localised in Var - I suspect I have never actually seen it in Var - and Meadow doesn't occur in Var although maybe odd records in the far north (where I know Chis saw them, but records are very sparse).

Roger