Dark green fritillary
Despite its name, this butterfly is mostly orange on top, only showing the dark green colour that gives it its name on the underside of its hindwings.
| Where | Open flower rich grassland and dunes |
|---|---|
| Size | 58 to 68 mm wingspan |
| When | June to August |
The Dark green fritillary is a large, powerful flying butterfly, orange above with black spots, and marked below with a green tinged hindwing scattered with large silvery white spots.
Caterpillars feed on wild violets, and the single yearly generation of adults favours open, flower rich grassland, visiting thistles and knapweeds for nectar while males patrol widely in search of the more sedentary females.
Traits
Habitat
Grassland
Colour
Orange, Black, Green
Active
Day
To people
Visits thistles and knapweed; harmless to people.
Activity through the year
Often confused with
Close in size at about 55 to 69 mm wingspan, but shows an extra row of brown spots between the outer margin and the silver spots on the hindwing underside, absent on the Dark green fritillary.
Questions
Is the Dark green fritillary dangerous to people?
Visits thistles and knapweed; harmless to people.
When can you see the Dark green fritillary?
The Dark green fritillary can be seen from June to August, by day.
Plate retouched from a photo by Gilles San Martin from Namur, Belgium, CC BY‑SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons Licence
The plate on this page is shared under the same licence as its source, CC BY-SA.
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Butterflies and moths›Brush-footed butterflies›Argynnis
Last updated 2026-09-26. Every entry is checked against published sources.