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orange and black checked, without the silver spots of most fritillaries
alpine meadow and forest
Due to location I am starting to lean toward Arctic Fritillary, Boloria chariclea. It was small enough that my first guess(before it stopped) was a checkerspot. We were at or above 6500 feet. Unfortunately, the last two pics are the only ones with even a hint of the underside. The last one shows him on a catspaw, a dandelion like flower that is if anything, smaller than a dandelion. The wingspan is thus, under 2 inches
and I'm 99% sure the spots were not silvered... it is something I automatically check when I see a fritillary type butterfly. I actually thought this might not be one.
I'm sure I have an underside pic in the 20-30 I took, I just have to wade through them
without seeing the underside of the wing, i don't think you can be 100% sure which one it is
Possibly Meadow Fritillary (Boloria bellona) which also isn't spangled I believe.
I believe the dark section by the abdomen makes it a Great Spangled Fritillary.
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/speci...
It isn't "spangled" and the variegated does not live in the west according to sources
Spotted on Sep 9, 2011
Submitted on Sep 18, 2011
+1
