Boloria titania

Titania's Fritillary (Boloria titania)

2023 photographs highlighted in green. Click on any photograph to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.


7878_male_Hautes-Alpes_4Jul07	26790_male_Alpes-Maritimes_09Jul11	30647_male_Hautes-Alpes_6Jul12	41531_male_Hautes-Alpes_15Jul16

48504_male_Lozère_15Jul21	41994_female_Savoie_25Jul16	3901_female_Alpes-de-Haute-Provence_15Aug06	51581_female_Lozère_13Jul23

38212_female_Hautes-Alpes_7Jul15	48519_male_Lozère_15Jul21	30638_male_Hautes-Alpes_6Jul12	8223_male?_Vaud, Switzerland_19Jul07

18811_female_Haute-Savoie_17Jul09	35966_pair_Hautes-Alpes_13Jul14	36021_pair_Hautes-Alpes_13Jul14

An attractive mountain fritillary with a minimum altitude range of around 800m. It is about the same size as the Pearl-bordered Fritillary (B. euphrosyne) and superficially similar. In France it only occurs in the Alpes, where it can often be quite common, in the Massif Centrale, and in one location in the Jura. The clearly solid and regular triangular or v-shaped uph submarginal marks identify titania from others of the same size; these marks are much narrower and more sagittate than for euphrosyne. Also, the titania underside is quite distinctive.

There is a subspecies cypris, with brighter upperside ground colour and stronger black markings, and attractive purple-brown marbling on the unh. According to T&L cypris does not occur in France, but the evidence on this page tends to disagree.

ref	sex	observations	alt. m
7878	M	a typical male.	1750
26790	M	a male, with quite dark markings and particularly heavy submarginal triangles and post-discal spots. The regularity of the triangles tends to suggest the possibility of euphrosyne, but on balance there is more evidence pointing toward titania.	1700
30647	M	a male, taking salts from the ground ("puddling"). The forewings are held back (this seems to often be the case for puddling specimens of any species) making the forewings look thinner. 30638 is the underside.	2020
41531	M	a crisply marked male in typical territorial pose.	2020
48504	M	*a male, freshly emerged it appears. Even with the wings curled downward, the fresh bright colouring shows titania* at its best. 48519 is the underside.**	1540
41994	F	a female, usually significantly larger and duskier than the male. 41994 has pronouncedly sagittate submarginal chevrons.	1400
3901	F	a slightly suffused female of the subspecies cypris, I believe. A female based on body shape and length.	1800
51581	F	a female, light orange ground colour, quite small post-discal spots on both wings, and very white chequered fringes.	1540
38212	F	a rather dusky female.	2020
48519	M	*a male of the cypris* subspecies, a particularly purple example, probably the most extreme example I have ever seen. 48504 is the upperside.**	1540
30638	M	a male, the underside of 30647. This is the nominate form of titania, which appears to be less common in the French Alpes than cypris illustrated by the two undersides on this page. The underside is particularly lightly marked, which does not seem to be the result of wear.	2020
8223	M	the underside of the subspecies cypris, dark and intricately marked. I suspect it is a male based on the length of the body, just visible.	1550
18811	F	*a very dark female cypris* underside, almost maroon.**	1250
35966	pair	*a mating pair, the higher butterfly (usually the female in mating pairs?) being of the subspecies cypris, and the lower being of the nominate titania.* T&L indicates that cypris does not occur in France, which is clearly not the case here. What is particularly puzzling is that these are two subspecies of titania and they are mating. According to H&R (page 11): "By definition no two subspecies... ever fly together; but if and when their ranges meet they can, and often do, interbreed and produce intermediate forms." This seems to be contradictory - by definition they never fly together, but if they do... ?? We'll give them the benefit of the doubt in that when two subspecies meet at the edges of their respective ranges, they can interbreed. What is puzzling here is that both titania (the nominate species) and cypris are quite regularly encountered in the Alpes and their ranges seem to overlap considerably. Equally, when they have been seen, and this species is fairly common and widespread, they are always clearly of one subspecies or the other, without ever suggesting an intermediate form. They are on the larval hostplant, Bistort (Polygonum bistorta).	2020
36021	pair	*the same pair as above, a close-up of the magnificently marked cypris* subspecies.**	2020