Silver-washed Fritillary

The silver-washed fritillary butterfly is deep orange with black spots on the upperside of its wings. It has a wingspan of 54–70 mm, with the male's being smaller and paler than the female's. The underside is green (verdigris) with a metallic gloss and broad silver bands which are partly curved, hence the name silver-washed. In the male the forewings are rather pointed whereas in the female they are more rounded. On females of the minority valesina form, recurrent in most European populations, the ground color is not fawn but grey with greenish reflections. The caterpillar is black brown with two yellow lines along its back and long reddish-brown spines. The male possesses scent scales on the upperside of the forewing that run along veins one to four as three distinct scent-streaks. The scent produced from these scales attracts females and helps to distinguish it from other species.

Unusually for a butterfly, the female does not lay her eggs on the leaves or stem of the caterpillar's food source (in this case violets), but instead one or two meters above the woodland floor in the crevices of tree bark close to clumps of violets. When the egg hatches in August, the caterpillar immediately goes into hibernation until spring. Upon awakening, it will drop to the ground, and feeds on violets close to the base of the tree. The caterpillar usually feeds at night, and usually conceals itself during the day away from its food source, but during cool weather will bask in the sunny spots on the forest floor on dry, dead leaves. It will pupate amongst the ground vegetation, and the adults will emerge in June. Seitz— The conical, ribbed, yellowish grey eggs are deposited on tree-trunks, particularly pines; the female commences about 4 or 5 ft. above the ground and with a few flappings of the wing flies higher up, depositing an egg at intervalls of 1/2 to 1 m, flying around the tree in a kind of spiral. When reaching a height of about 4 m it leaves the tree in order to begin again in the same way on another one. …

Adults feed on the nectar of bramble, thistles, and knapweeds, and also on aphid honeydew. The silver-washed is a strong flier, and more mobile than other fritillaries, and, as such, can be seen gliding above the tree canopy at high speed. Its preferred habitat is thin, sunny, deciduous woodland, especially oaks, but it has been known to live in coniferous woodland. The main larval food plant of the species is the common dog violet (Viola riviniana).

Named in the Classical tradition.Aphrodite Paphia is a goddess who arose out of white foam on the waves/ Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty.