Fabriciana elisa

Fabriciana elisa, the Corsican fritillary, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Corsica and Sardinia.^[1] This is a mountain butterfly, found on grassy vegetation in clearings in deciduous woods.

Fabriciana elisa
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Fabriciana
Species:	F. elisa
Binomial name
Fabriciana elisa (Godart, [1824])
Synonyms
Argynnis elisa Godart, [1824]

Description in Seitz

The wingspan is 45–60 mm. A. elisa Godt. (= cyrene Bon., eliza Lang) (69b). The same size as clara, but distinctly a transition to aglaja. Rather variable, above fiery brown-red to light orange-yellow, the black markings rather small and at the distal margin almost obsolete. The hindwing beneath entirely dusted over with green, sometimes a small patch before the distal margin excepted; the silver-spots numerous but small, angular, sometimes reduced to heavy dots or comma-spots, the central ones having usually a dark edge. — The species is restricted to the mountains of Corsica and Sardinia, where it is locally abundant in June and July, for instance on the Monte Gennargentu near Lanusei.^[2]

Biology

Adults are on wing from July to August. The larvae feed on Viola species, including Viola tricolor, Viola biflora, Viola reichenbachiana and Viola corsica. They prefer plants growing under juniper bushes.^[3]

References

1. Fabriciana at funet
2. Seitz. A. in Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter, 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren) This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
3. C. Van Swaay; et al. (2012). "Dos and Don'ts for butterflies of the Habitats Directive of the European Union". Nature Conservation. 1: 73–153. doi:10.3897/natureconservation.1.2786.