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Gulf fritillary butterflies (mating pair)

Agraulis vanillae

Photo by Aaron_G
Published on Project Noah
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36.1524, -95.9904

Field Notes

Description:

The Gulf Fritillary or Passion Butterfly, is a striking, bright orange butterfly of the family Nymphalidae, subfamily Heliconiinae. These were formerly classified in a separate family, the Heliconiidae or longwing butterflies, and like other longwings this species does have long, rather narrow wings in comparison with other butterflies. It is not closely related to the true fritillaries. It is a medium to large butterfly, with a wingspan of 6–9.5 cm (2.4–3.7 in). Its underwings are buff, with large silvery spots. It takes its name from migrating flights of the butterflies sometimes seen over the Gulf of Mexico. (information from Wikipedia)

Habitat:

City park

Notes:

I don't know why these 2 were mating so late in the year but they were having a good time in the flowerbed. :-)

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (2)

Thanks, Yasser! I really put in the crouch time on the first image. I wanted to get down below them to include the sky, but then I had to wait until the one on the right flapped its wings so they were in the up position. It was particularly tough because my knees aren't what they used to be. :-)
Sweet! This is an awesome series Aaron!

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