There cannot be a better-named butterfly than a Titania’s Fritillary. Just try to remember the name when you see this butterfly flitting around Kananaskis. It’s not the only bright orange butterfly you’ll see. However, it is surely the most common. Why the name Titania’s Fritillary? Ask German entomologist Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper. He identified it as the first in a new family and named it in 1790.
The top wing has many black spots on the orange background. The underside is very unique with a yellow chevron pattern. This is one of those butterflies that sits still with its wings wide open. Seeing the underside can be challenging; we’ve never successfully photographed it.
The Titania’s Fritillary is indeed a very common butterfly around the world. It is, however, endangered in Finland, for reasons we do not know. In North America, it’s found in mountainous regions and the northern boreal forest in Canada and the northern US. But this northern circumpolar species can also be found in the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Baltic, Scandinavia, Russia and Asia.
Meet more of the cool critters of K-Country here!
