| Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae (Linnaeus, 1758)) |
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Scientific name: Agraulis vanillae (Linnaeus, 1758) Common name: Gulf Fritillary Other names: Passion Butterfly French name: Order: Lepidoptera Suborder: Rhopalocera Family: Nymphalidae Subfamily: Heliconiinae Wingspan: 60-95 mm. Females are generally larger than males. Biotope: Woodland edges, track sides, parks and gardens. Geographic area: From the southern part of the United States to Argentina, the Caribbean. Flight time: Number of generations : Caterpillar: Shiny copper orange with longitudinal black stripes and long black weakly-branched spines. Host plant: Passion flowers such as Passiflora incarnata, Passiflora lutea and Passiflora foetida. |
The Gulf Fritillary is a large butterfly with elongated and narrow fore wings. The upper side of the wings is orange with black markings. There are three tiny black-ringed white dots in the fore wing cell. The veins of the fore wings are highlighted with black markings and these markings widens in the submarginal area. You can also see three black spots in the postmedian area. The hind winks are marked by a few black spots and by an alignment of orange yellow spots circled with black in the marginal area. The under side of the wings is brown with elongated silvery patches. |
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I have shot this picture at Iracoubo, on the side of the RN1 road. This was during a short stop while we were driving northwards to Mana. The fore wing cell only shows one black-ringed white spot. |
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I have been able to exactly adjust the focus on the eye, in manual mode here because of the stem in front of the butterfly. On this picture you can see the elongated silvery spots on the under side of the wings. |
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I observed this butterfly at Vauclin among the dry vegetation bordering the path to Cap Ferré. I have been able to take a photo of the underside with the wings wide open. |
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I didn't manage to take a photo of the upper side with both wings, but isn't one wing enough because, unless I'm wrong, we always have right wing and left wing symmetry. |
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Here's an even better view of the underside of the wings. |
André Bon December 2023