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Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007, and must not be published in part or in whole elsewhere without prior written permission from the author.
Butterflies of Britain & Europe
 
Glanville Fritillary
Melitaea cinxia LINNAEUS, 1758
Family - NYMPHALIDAE
subfamily - NYMPHALINAE
Tribe - MELITAEINI
subtribe - EUPHAEDRYINA
 
 introduction | habitats | lifecycle | adult behaviour
 
Glanville Fritillary Melitaea cinxia, male, Hampshire coast, England
 
Glanville Fritillary Melitaea cinxia, male, Wheelers Bay, Isle of Wight, England
 
Introduction
 
The Glanville Fritillary occurs throughout most of mainland Europe, with the exception of Portugal, central / southern Spain, and northern Scandinavia. It also occurs in the Atlas mountains of Morocco, and in temperate Asia from the middle east to Mongolia.
 
There are no other similar species in Britain. In Europe however it can be confused with the Knapweed Fritillary Melitaea phoebe, which is a widespread species, or with Freyer's Fritillary Melitaea arduinna, which is a local species restricted to south-east Europe.
 
Glanville Fritillary Melitaea cinxia, male, Hampshire
 
Habitats
 
In Europe the Glanville Fritillary is found in a wide range of habitats including woodland glades, sub-alpine meadows, field edges, and open grassland.
 
In Britain it is at the edge of it's range and is only able to survive in a very restricted range of habitats on the south coast of the Isle of Wight.
 
It breeds primarily on severely eroded sandstone undercliffs, where the larval foodplant ribwort plantain is profuse, and where the extensive areas of exposed soil create a very warm micro-climate. Most sites only support colonies for a few years because they soon become overgrown, resulting in a microclimate that eventually becomes too cool for the species, which is dependent on warmth during the early spring when the larvae awaken from hibernation. Fortunately further land slippages create new areas of habitat which the butterfly can colonise, and the status of the butterfly on the Isle of Wight remains fairly stable, threatened only by sea defence constructions and tourist developments.
 
Elsewhere on the island a few other colonies occur on very steep crumbling chalk cliffs, and the butterfly also breeds periodically on the chalk grassland hillsides on the southern half of the island, but these colonies tend to last only a year or two.
 
Occasionally colonies establish themselves on mainland Britain, e.g. at Hordle Cliffs and Hurst Castle. These colonies typically flourish for 2 or 3 years, but then the populations drop rapidly. It should be borne in mind that both of these tiny colonies were almost certainly the progeny of single females which found their way across the Solent on different occasions. The genetic diversity of each colony would therefore be very limited. After a few generations entropy weakens the stock, reducing the viability, and renders the population prone to extinction.
 

Glanville Fritillary Melitaea cinxia, male, Hampshire

 
Lifecycle
 
In warmer parts of Europe the species is double brooded, but in Britain there is only a single generation of adults. These normally emerge in mid-May and remain flying until mid-June, but in exceptionally warm years such as 2007 the butterflies can appear at the end of April, and only remain on the wing until late May.
 
The eggs are yellow, and laid in batches of up to 200 on the underside of leaves of ribwort plantain Plantago lanceolata. A wider range of plants is used in Europe, including various other Plantago species, plus Centaurea and Veronica. Usually the entire batch is laid at once, a process that may take 2 days, but sometimes the females lay smaller batches of only about 50 eggs, on plants at different parts of the breeding site. The eggs hatch after about 10 days, in late May.
 
The larvae, which are black and spiky, with reddish-brown heads, feed gregariously, and bask on silk webs which they spin over plantains. In September, when in the 3rd or 4th instar, they leave the plantains, and spin a dense web amongst tall grasses. There they hibernate until early March. Upon awakening they feed in swarms which march across the undercliffs consuming every plantain they encounter.
 
If the supply of ribwort plantain becomes exhausted they will switch to buck's horn plantain P. coronopus, but contrary to early entomological literature they do not utilise sea plantain P. maritima.
 
Glanville Fritillary Melitaea cinxia, larva, Hampshire
 
In April, when almost fully grown, they become more solitary. The rate of growth varies from one larva to another, with the result that there are usually still many larvae around in May when the first male butterflies emerge.
 
The pupae are greyish, marked on the abdomen with bands of small orange and black spots. They hang by the cremaster from grass stems, roots, or stones. Normally they pupate singly, but clusters of 4 or 5 are sometimes found in crevices. The pupal stage lasts about 2 weeks.
 
Glanville Fritillary Melitaea cinxia, male, Hampshire
 
Adult behaviour
 

The butterflies have a rapid whirring flight, usually close to the ground, and periodically settle to bask on low foliage or bare ground. They also often settle with wings closed, amongst pebble or on the flowerheads of plantain, thrift and sea purslane, even in bright sunny conditions.

 

Males patrol irregular beats across the breeding sites, and intercept all other Glanville Fritillaries of either sex. If a male meets a female that has already mated, she settles amongst low grasses, flutters her wings rapidly, and slightly raises her abdomen as a rejection signal. If the male persists, she then closes her wings and remains completely still until the male loses interest and flies away. When a male encounters a virgin female copulation takes place almost immediately without any preliminary courtship ritual, and the pair remain copulated overnight.

 

Glanville Fritillary Melitaea cinxia, male, Hampshire

 

Typical breeding sites have a wide range of potential nectar sources including thyme, sea purslane, sea kale, red clover and birds foot trefoil, but the butterflies ignore most of these in favour of thrift, hawkweeds, buttercups, kidney vetch and red valerian.

 

Glanville Fritillary Melitaea cinxia, male, Hampshire

 

During periods of dry weather the butterflies roost overnight on the flowerheads of thrift, sea purslane or plantain, but when there is a threat of rain they go deep into grass tussocks, clumps of horsetail or other vegetation, or hide in crevices in the undercliffs.

 
                                                       
Almost every British and European species of butterfly is declining rapidly in numbers, due in most cases to loss or degradation of habitats.
 
You can help to reverse the decline by supporting conservation organisations which purchase and manage habitats as nature reserves, and which lobby government at local, national and international levels, often very successfully, to bring about changes in farming, forestry and urban development policies.
 
Please contact the conservation organisations for advice on how you can help protect British and European butterflies and their habitats. You may be able to offer practical help e.g. by monitoring butterfly populations or helping to manage nature reserves. Donations to these organisations enable them to employ ecologists and biologists. Even if you are unable to provide such help, merely having your name on the membership list can be a powerful tool for conservation organisations wishing to demonstrate the levels of support they have for their policies.

 

 
Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007-2008, and must not be reproduced or published in part or in whole elsewhere in any form without written permission from Adrian Hoskins. Breach of copyright will be pursued by litigation.
 
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