Meadow Fritillary (Boloria bellona)
Meadow Fritillary (Boloria bellona)
Fermilab, along C-Road East 
DuPage County, Illinois 
September 13, 2002 

Meadow Fritillaries, appropriately named, inhabit open meadows with fairly short vegetation and plenty of the caterpillars' food plants, violets.  These areas include some of our old farm yards, as well as various mowed fields including much of the open land on the eastern side of the site.  Interestingly, they seem to have divided up the habitat with the Great Spangled Fritillaries such that there is little or no overlap of the two species.  The Great Spangled Fritillaries are found along woods edges throughout the Fermilab site, where I have never found Meadow Fritillaries. 

These photos are close-ups that make the butterfly appear large, but they are actually under two-inches in wingspan, a little larger than the Pearl Crescent

Meadow Fritillary (Boloria bellona)
Fermilab, along C-Road East 
DuPage County, Illinois 
September 13, 2002 

Note the lack of silver spots on the hind wing.  The similar Silver-bordered Fritillary, which was introduced to Fermilab as part of our natural area restoration effort,  has silver-white spots on the hind wing. 

Meadow Fritillary (Boloria bellona)
Fermilab, along Batavia Road 
DuPage County, Illinois 
June 25, 2003 
Meadow Fritillaries (Boloria bellona), mating pair 
Fermilab, along Wilson Road 
DuPage County, Illinois 
July 30, 2003 

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