heath fritillary
melitaea athalia latin

Heath Fritillary is also on the "Red List" in Germany.

Common cow-wheat, the foodplant of the caterpillar of the heath fritillary is already present in some parts of the wood.

The Heath Fritillary (Melitaea athalia) is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family.

The Heath Fritillary ranges throughout the Palaearctic region from Western Europe to Japan.

Melitaea athalia (Heath Fritillary)

The fauna of the lowland heath includes a nationally rare butterfly the Heath fritillary (Mellicta athalia).

Heath Fritillary is not listed on the IUCN Red List, suggesting that globally it is not considered threatened.

This was in error, however; the type species of Mellicta is actually the Heath Fritillary (M. athalia), making the two taxa junior subjective synonyms and thus eligible to be separated again.

Within Europe, the Heath Fritillary occupies a diversity of grassy, flowery habitats-dry or damp, upland or lowland, with or without shrubs or trees, including woodland clearings and heathland.

When conditions are open, after the coppice is cut, much of the ground is colonised by Common Cow-wheat, which is the food plant of the caterpillar of the rare Heath Fritillary butterfly.

Though conservation of our most endangered species of butterflies (such as large blue, heath fritillary and swallowtail) is largely in the hands of experts, keen amateurs can still make a valuable contribution to conserving commoner species.

The site is also of importance for its breeding bird communities, its large population of the nationally rare Heath Fritillary butterfly (Mellicta athalia), an exceptional woodland lichen flora and its palynological interest of deep peat on the Chains.

The Trust will also establish and maintain an annual coppice management programme, which will benefit the nationally rare heath fritillary and white admiral butterflies, and many other species, including bluebell, wood anemone, long-eared owl, yellow necked wood mouse and dormouse.

The Heath Fritillary (Melitaea athalia) is a butterfly of the Nymphalidae family.