The wingspan of the Great Spangled Fritillary is 2.5 to 4 inches (6.4-10.2 cm).
It has scalloped orange forewings and hindwings. Females are a darker orange than males. It has black spots on the upper side of its wings and silver spots on the underside.
The Great Spangled Fritillary is found in open, moist places, including fields, pine and oak woods, conifer forest openings, and meadows.
The Great Spangled Fritillary caterpillar eats the leaves of various violet species. They are nocturnal and eat at night. During the day, the caterpillar hides under the leaves.
Adults eat the nectar from many species of flowers, including milkweeds, thistles, violets, ironweed, dogbane, mountain laurel, verbena, vetch, bergamot, red clover, joe-pye weed, and purple coneflower.
The Great Spangled Fritillary only has one brood per year. After the eggs are laid in late summer, they hatch into tiny caterpillars. Great Spangled Fritillary caterpillars are black with orange-tipped spines.
These young caterpillars do not eat right away. Instead, they enter a resting stage and overwinter (survive the winter) without feeding.
In spring, when violets begin to grow again, the caterpillars become active. Then they start eating violet leaves, which are their main food.
Unlike their nocturnal caterpillar stage, adult Great Spangled Fritillaries are diurnal (active during the day) and stay near their food sources.
The word fritillary comes from the Latin word fritillus, which means “dice box.”
This name likely refers to the butterflies’ checkered or spotted wing patterns, which look like the markings on dice or a game board.
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The Great Spangled Fritillary is found across New Hampshire.
The Great Spangled Fritillary is found from southern British Columbia east to the Canadian Maritimes and south to central California and Northern Georgia.
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