| Family | Nymphalidae |
|---|---|
| Subfamily | Nymphalinae |
| Genus | Melitaea |
| Species | didyma |
| Authority | (Esper, 1778) |
| English Name | Spotted Fritillary |
| European Red List 2010 | Least Concern (LC) |
|---|---|
| EU 27 Red List 2010 | Least Concern (LC) |
| European Red List 2025 | Least Concern (LC) |
| EU 27 Red List 2025 | Least Concern (LC) |
| Habitats Directive | |
| Bern Convention | |
| CITES |
The Spotted Fritillary can be found on poor grasslands, steppe-like vegetation, and dry, rough vegetation near rocks and on slopes. Further, it is also seen on fallow agricultural land, or at the edges of fields. It uses a wide variety of plants as foodplant, plantains (Plantago spp.), toadflaxes (Linara spp.), speedwells (Veronica spp.), foxgloves (Digitalis spp.), woundworts (Stachys spp.), valerians (Valeriana spp.), and mulleins (Verbascum spp.). The female lays her eggs in clumps on the underside of the leaves, near to the ground. At first, the caterpillars feed communally in a loosely spun shelter, but they separate quite soon, either into smaller groups, or become solitary. The caterpillars hibernate alone, or in small groups, in a spun web. They pupate low down on the foodplant or in the vegetation. The Spotted Fritillary has one to three broods a year, depending on the geographical location and altitude of its breeding ground.
Albania / Andorra / Austria / Belarus / Bosnia and Herzegovina / Bulgaria / Croatia / Czechia / Estonia (Irregular Vagrant) / France / France: Mainland / Germany / Greece / Greece: Mainland / Greece: East Aegean Islands / Hungary / Italy / Italy: Mainland / Italy: Sicily / Latvia / Liechtenstein / Lithuania / Luxembourg (Regionally Extinct) / North Macedonia / Montenegro / Netherlands (Irregular Vagrant) / Poland / Portugal / Portugal: Mainland / Romania / European Russia / San Marino / Serbia / Serbia: Serbia / Serbia: Kosovo / Slovakia / Slovenia / Spain / Spain: Mainland / Switzerland / European Türkiye / Ukraine /