Bog Fritillary
(Boloria eunomia)
Bog Fritillary sightings, by week (about)
Click to enlargeGlocke Lake SNA, Oconto Co., WI, June 13, 2005.
Click to enlargeGlocke Lake SNA, Oconto Co., WI, June 13, 2005.
The Bog Fritillary is a species of the northern bogs in Wisconsin. I had never seen this species, but found it at Glocke Lake, a Wisconsin State Natural Area, in Oconto County. This area has an open water bog lake with a fairly wide sphagnum mat. I had visited the area in July of 2004 and found Bog Coppers and went on June 13, 2005 to see if there were any bog species present and I was pleased to find both the Bog Fritillary and the Jutta Arctic.
Identifying characteristics: The Bog Fritillary is one of the six lesser fritillaries in Wisconsin. The upper wings on all of them are black and orange, but the Bog Fritillary is very dark, having thicker, black lines and darker scaling throughout, but somewhat lighter spots on the back wing. Underneath the row of white, submarginal spots is distinctive.
Similar species: Above, in Wisconsin, the Bog Fritillary is darker than the other lesser fritillaries except for the Freija Fritillary and the Frigga Fritillary . The Freija and Frigga both are dark near the body on the back wing while the Bog Fritillary has some obvious lighter spots that basically are the same as the large white spots below. Below, this species is most like the Silver-bordered Fritillary, but the Silver-bordered Fritillary has a row of black submarginal spots, while in the Bog Fritillary these are white and are easily seen on the orange background color.
Habitat: Open bogs in northern Wisconsin.
Flight: One brood. In Michigan they have been found from May 27 to July 2. The Wisconsin DNR web site says that this species is usually found in mid-June.
Abundance: In Wisconsin this is not a common species, being very local and confined to bogs in the north.
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Bog Fritillary
Boloria eunomia