Queen of Spain fritillary
species of butterfly
The Queen of Spain fritillary (Issoria lathonia) is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae.
Subspecies
Subspecies include:
Issoria lathonia lathonia
Issoria lathonia isaea (Gray, 1846) (Himalaya, Yunnan)
Issoria lathonia messora (Fruhstorfer, 1909) (China)
Issoria lathonia isaeoides Reuss, 1925 (Sichuan, China)
Distribution and habitat
This migratory species is widespread in most of Europe, in North Africa, Canary Islands, and in the eastern Palearctic realm (Central Asia, Himalayas, Baluchistan, and Western China). These butterflies live in open areas, in dry lawns, agricultural wastelands and in extensive crops at altitudes between sea level and 2700 m.
Description
Issoria lathonia is a medium-sized butterfly with a wingspan of 38–46 millimetres (1.5–1.8 in). The wings show a deep orange-violet background, with rounded black spots arranged in regular rows and suffused with greenish gray in the females. The underside of the hindwings is decorated with large pearly nacreous spots and it is crossed by a postdiscal row of black eyespots with pearly pupils. Some pearly spots also appear at the apex of the forewings.
The caterpillar can reach a length of 35 millimetres (1.4 in). It is grayish brown, with black spots, and relatively short brown spines with white tip, and a double row of dorsal white streaks. The suspended chrysalis is dark brown, with a large white saddle-shaped stain and some smaller ones of the same color, resembling a bird's dropping.
“Queen of Spain fritillary” enters the record as species of butterfly. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Queen, Spain and fritillary can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1126187. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1846, 1909 and 1925.
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This entry incorporates text from “Queen of Spain fritillary” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.