Great Spangled Fritillary on Wild Bergamot

It seems like if you want to attract butterflies, you should get some Wild Bergamot; here's yet another butterfly attracted to this wildflower: a Great Spangled Fritillary. These are one of my favorite butterflies. Their orange-and-black coloring and relatively large size make them easy to spot and fairly easy to identify.

Probably the easiest butterfly (in my area) with which to mistake the Great Spangled Fritillary is the Aphrodite Fritillary, which has a black spot near the base of the forewing that the GSF lacks, and which is generally smaller. (My pictures don't show that spot, but the fritillaries I was seeing were almost the size of the Monarchs. I don't think an Aphrodite would ever get that large.)

People sometimes see a Pearl Crescent and wonder if it's a baby GSF, but of course butterflies don't grow that way. They're pretty much at their full size when they emerge from their chrysalis. (I will admit that it's a little hard to see the pattern on the fairly small Pearl Crescent, and there is a bit of a resemblance there.)

From a distance and in flight, if all you see is orange/black fluttering, I could see them being confused with the Monarch or the Viceroy (a Monarch look-alike). But if you get a good look at a GSF, it's easy to distinguish from the other two.

And in flight, if all you can see is a multi-colored, speckled butterfly, maybe you could confuse them with the Tawny Emperor. Once again though, the pattern differences are pretty clear if the butterfly simmers down and gives you a good look at it.

July 18, 2021 at Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary
Photo 148188484, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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