Aphrodite Fritillary

The Aphrodite Fritillary (Speyeria aphrodite), also known simply as the Aphrodite, is a brush-footed butterfly of deciduous, coniferous, and mixed forests.  We found this female in a grassland margin between woodlots where prescribed fire was administered during the autumn of 2022 to reduce accumulations of natural fuels and an overabundance of invasive vegetation.  A goal of the burn was to promote the growth of native species including the violets (Viola species) favored as larval host plants by this and other fritillaries.

Aphrodite Fritillary
A female Aphrodite Fritillary collecting nectar from a thistle flower.

By the time these adult butterflies make their reproductive flights in late summer, the violets that serve as larval host plants have gone dormant.  To find patches of ground where the violets will come to life in spring, the female Aphrodite Fritillary has an ability to sense the presence of dormant roots, probably by smell.  Upon finding an area where suitable violets will begin greening up next year, she’ll deposit her eggs.  The eggs overwinter, then hatch to feed on the tender new violet leaves of spring.

Aphrodite Fritillary
A female Aphrodite Fritillary.  A prescribed burn, when administered during spring to manage fritillary habitat, is applied only to a portion of the land parcel each year to avoid decimating an entire population of the larvae during the first instar of their life cycle, a time when they are vulnerable to fire.
Aphrodite Fritillary
Our female Aphrodite Fritillary busily gathers nutritious nectar to provide sufficient energy for the critical process of mating and egg production.  What’s the thistle that this goddess of love and procreation is pollinating?…It’s a non-native invasive, the Bull Thistle (Cirsium vulgare), a species that readily colonizes new areas by producing an abundance of airborne seeds.  Continued management of this site with periodic applications of prescribed fire will prevent Bull Thistle and other invasives from overtaking the habitat during coming years.

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