I thought this would be an easy ID, but I had no idea there were soooooo many orange butterflies. I've narrowed it down to an Aphrodite Fritillary, but I'm not positive about my ID. Would appreciate either a confirmation or correction. Thanks, as usual, for any help. Photo of underside of wing below.
This is the wing underside
Trying to separate these reliably always has given me fits. That aside, the underside of the hind wing looks more like that of a great spangled fritillary. I would be happy to entertain anyone elses opinion.
I'm inclined to the Great Spangled as well. It seems that the Aprodites that I've access to have more of a dark band around the outside of their wings while the Great Spangled has a lighter wing edge. That may be differences in gender or in individuals, but most seem to follow those patterns.
Thank you both for the input. On second look at the underside of the wing, I see what you mean by the lighter band, and would definitely have to agree with your corrected id. I'm hoping one day to be able to get an id correct by myself, but in the meantime it sure is great to have such a reliable source to help me. I can't imagine how frustrating it would be without DG! Thanks again.
