Fritillaries Laying Eggs - Does the Violet Species Matter?

[Williamson, Craig]

Valerie and I have seen Great Spangled Fritillaries laying eggs on and around the base of Common Blue Violet:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/314809688

We seem to get 99% Great Spangled on our property, but know that other species of fritillaries are common elsewhere. Does anyone know if the different fritillary species use different species of violets as larval food sources? Can we plant different violets to attract different species?

Craig Williamson and Valerie Burns

Elkins, NH

[amy highstrom]

Great pix, Craig!  I've found Sharon Strichter's work from "Butterflies of Mass" the most helpful with getting into the weeds of violet species but would love to know of other more current resources/references if they are out there!   I have a variety of violet species here near you, and all greater Fritillaries reliably represented throughout their life cycles but would need to do some serious study to find larva etc. to see how they are operating on this specific site.   

Amy Highstrom

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