Today’s post features some of the most common prairie inhabitants at the current time, the Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) butterflies. There are 2 main wildflowers they are currently attracted to, the Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) of today’s post and the Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa), which I will feature in another post. These colorful butterflies are easy to spot and can be seen on both the mentioned wildflowers and fluttering above the open meadow … a wonderful sight.
The name “Fritillary” comes from the Latin word for “dice box”, which the checkered pattern of orange and black on the upper surface of their wings tend to resemble. Here are a few of my favorites of the Great Spangled Fritillaries on Common Milkweed wildflowers. By the way, if you look real closely, in most of these images you can see small, white “dots” on some of the milkweed leaves. These are butterfly eggs.
I think you will agree that these beauties are quite a sight to behold on the prairie! I’m hoping that soon they will be joined by Monarchs and by some wonderful Swallowtails!