A rare and localised butterfly in England, but common and widely distributed in most of France, especially in the south, where it is often the most common species. It is also subject to considerable variation, which can make differentiation from its close ex-Mellicta cousins, especially the Meadow Fritillary (M. parthenoides) and the Provençal Fritillary (M. deione), rather difficult.

This species was previously known as Mellicta athalia. In the new European taxonomy, the erstwhile Mellicta group of fritillaries are now included in the Melitaea genus. The undersides of the Mellicta species were very similar so in some circumstances it is convenient to refer to the ex-Mellicta group.

One identification clue that seems consistent, is that the black shading around both the upf and the unf marginal lunule in s2 is very noticeably heavy. This seems consistent for athalia and conversely not so for other ex-Mellicta species. Of course, enough of the unf has to be visible to see the s2 lunule for this clue to be useful.

The precise taxonomy of this species is not entirely clear. It seems generally recognised that the athalia from southern France (or at least the south-east) are of the subspecies celadussa. However, it is now being suggested by CEN-PACA (http://www.cen-paca.org/index.php?rub=3&pag=3_12_5especes&cd_nom=713029) that this is now considered as a separate species known as M. helvetica. It is certainly true that the helvetica illustrated by CEN-PACA very closely resemble those I see in Var (of which 21631 is very typical), although this revision does not yet seem to have been verified in the "official" classification.

In the 2017 taxonomy, celadussa was split from athalia and considered a separate species, (helpfully) renamed as nevadensis. However, in the 2019 classification, only athalia (Heath Fritillary) and celadussa (Southern Heath Fritillary) are listed. It is not clear to me where the dividing line between athalia and celadussa occurs, but it can safely be assumed that all on this page from the PACA region are celadussa.

One objectives of my biannual trips to the Pyrénées is to see and photograph the False Heath Fritillary (M. diamina) subspecies vernetensis which flies in parts of that region and is superficially similar to athalia.

ref

sex

observations

alt. m

21631

M

a typical male of the rather sombre high altitude athalia.

1400

21909

M

an unusually bright and rather orange athalia, considering the altitude.

1750

22673

M

another high altitude sombre athalia, even more so than 21631.

1120

24721

M

a typical male, rather lightly marked, and with an absent uph post-discal line, a feature which can sometimes lead to confusion with parthenoides where the discal line is always missing (or very faint). The absence of this line in athalia is not uncommon is this region.

140

33597

M

a male, warming up in the early morning sun.

1600

35507

M

a very typical male.

780

35319

F

a very dark female, unusual given the low altitude.

220

34319

F

a female, with quite thin and well-defined black lines, especially on the hindwing.

220

30157

F

a female, not particularly typical of athalia, but I think every other option can be eliminated.

1320

17028

F

a female which I believe had just emerged and was drying its wings before its maiden flight.  

920

21848

M

a male taking salts from a sheep's crotte.

1600

15383

M

a male, puddling. It seemed rather more red-orange than most athalia.

140

11207

M

a male underside.

165

45211

M

a male, puddling, with very much reduced markings.

1400

11950

F

a more typical female underside with rather more colour contrast.

1580

33335

PAIR

a mating pair.

1430

34968

F

a courting pair, female below as confirmed by a view of the uppersides.

220