Marsh Fritillary

[roundwood123]

Hi all, is this a Marsh Fritillary?, Spotted by me in Portugal last week.
Steve.

[NickMorgan]

I'd be inclined towards a Spanish Fritillary, but I'm no expert. Where abouts in Portugal was it?

[Padfield]

I can see why Nick said that, but it is a marsh fritillary.

In Spanish fritillary the band inside the submarginal crescents on the forewing is brick red and wide, with conspicuous small, defined, yellow spots in it. Starting with the submarginal crescents, the pattern of the outer three bands is a striking narrow-wide-narrow.

Marsh fritillary is very variable across its range but never (in my experience) matches the full spec described above. The fritillary posted is a great March sighting but not a Spanish fritillary.

Guy

[roundwood123]

Thanks Guy/Nick, It was the only Fritillary of the week, i stayed just outside Lisbon in Cascais, The only other Butterflies of note were 4 Green Hairstreaks, 2 Clouded Yellow, 2 Swallowtailes and a quick glimpse of a Marbled White sp..
Steve.