Fritillary (Boloria alaskensis) Butterfly

Observation: My friend Royal was hiking Middle Fork Trail in the Chugach and snapped a photo of this interesting (unusual?) butterfly. Can LEO help us identify it?

Cooperative Extension Service Consult: Jessie Moan, Statewide IPM Technician writes, "Nice picture! I think you are right that it is a fritillary but I don't know what species of fritillary it is. UAF Cooperative Extension Service

LEO says: Judging from the image, the butterfly closely resembles a Mountain Fritillary Boloria alaskensis. They can be observed in moist tundra and high mountain meadows of the holarctic, from Alaska and Northwest Territory, western Yukon, northwestern British Columbia with an isolated populations in Canadian Rockies and Wind River Mountains of Wyoming. Males patrol close to the ground during the day. Females lay eggs singly near host plants. Two years are needed to complete development from egg to adult; caterpillars hibernate their first and second winters. Source: Butterflies and Moths of North America, Wikipedia and turtlepuddle.org

According to the US Forest Service, Fritillary: a Pretty Butterfly and a Good Pollinator - "People who are not very familiar with butterflies frequently mistake fritillaries for their more famous distant cousins the monarch butterflies. Most are orange and black like the monarchs, but with a different pattern and some are about the same size. They are as attractive and their life histories are perhaps just as interesting, although they do not make the monarch’s incredible journey all the way to Mexico. Sadly, some species of fritillaries are considered endangered. There are fourteen species of the so-called greater fritillaries (genus Speyeria) and sixteen lesser fritillaries (genus Bolloria). The greater fritillaries are larger than the lesser ones as their name indicates. Some of them are very hard to tell apart and when seen in flight it is easy to make mistakes."

"Caterpillars hatch in the fall and go to sleep right away without feeding. They sleep through the winter and will only awaken in the spring at the same time as violet plants begin to grow. The timing is important to the hungry caterpillar. It is feared that global warming may disrupt this synchronization; this would prove catastrophic to fritillary caterpillars. Studies are underway to verify whether this is already taking place." By Beatriz Moisset (M. Tcheripanoff)