Nymphalids (Browns, Fritillaries & Ringlets)

This species is described in the British Butterflies - Fritillaries section of the site.

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While it remains a great rarity in Great Britain, the High Brown Fritillary is much more easily-seen on the continent, where it is one of the most widespread Argynnis species.

The butterfly is named for the curve of brown-ringed spots on the underwings, but it can be identified from the upperwings alone - the outermost three spots toward the middle of the forewings are in a straight line in the High Brown Fritillary.  Those in the very similar Dark Green Fritillary are kinked, with the third spot noticeably moved towards the middle of the wing.

This smaller fritillary is very widespread throughout continental Europe and often common. 

The most obvious feature one notices is the bold white fringe around the rear edge of the wings, although this is not unique to the Queen of Spain.  Other key features are the spots on the upperwings being all rounded, apart from those on the leading edge of the wings and the concave outer margin of the forewings - this gives the wings a more pointed appearance than other similar fritilaries.

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Smaller than the Spotted Fritillary (M.didyma), this attractive butterfly is mainly a south-eastern European species and is less common in Iberia, where it a resident of hot, dry meadows.

Key identifying features of this species are the crescent-shaped submarginal spots on the upperwings and black-edged orange bands on the underwings.

A widespread southern European butterfly, the Spotted Fritillary is found across Spain, where it is common in dry, grassy habitats.

Unlike its close relative, M.trivia (see above),  the submarginal spots on the forewings are rectangular or rounded, rather than crescent-shaped.

Another fritillary which is a great rarity in Britain, the Heath Fritillary is commonly encountered in continental Europe, although in Spain it only occurs in the northern half of the country, aprt from a disjunct population in the southern Sierras.

Several similar species can be seen in Spain; key features of the Heath Fritillary are the non-contrasting orange bands on the upperwings and the palpi being dark brown (although a good close-up photo is needed to see this!).

Very much a western European species, the Meadow Fritillary is almost entirely restricted to France and most of the Iberian Peninsula.

This species is quite similar to the Heath Fritillary, but differs in having less extensive, more broken black markings on the upperside of the forewings.

While unmistakable in Britain, the White Admiral has a similar cousin in Spain, but the two can only be confused in the north of the country. 

The White Admiral is restricted in Spain to the Cantabrian mountains, Galicia and the Pyrenees.  The Southern White Admiral is found over most of the country.  The two species are best distnguished by the extent of white on the upperwings - the White Admiral has a white stripe on the forewing (albeit broken) and hindwing; the Southern White Admiral only has white spots on the forewings.  The underwing patterns also differ subtly.

A British traveller to Spain could be forgiven for thinking they had seen a different species when encountering Spanish Speckled Woods for the first time - they differ from northern forms in having orange markings instead of the beige ones familar in the UK.  This is because British butterflies belong to a different subspecies.

The Speckled Wood can be seen across Spain, in woodland and sometimes other habitats as well.

Looking very different from the Wall Brown, this species has a very plain colour and pattern but is easily recognised by the very large black eye-spots on the forewings.  Many individual are almost totally dark brown but the one shown here has a fair amount of orange on it - this is the form adrasta, which is common in the south of the species' range.

The Large Wall Brown can be found across Spain, and much of Europe.

This beautiful species is described in the Butterflies of Britain section of the site.  It is a common and widespread butterfly in France.

This attractive species is described in the Butterflies of France section of the site.  It can be seen in the northern half of Spain, but is absent from the south.

This attractive species is described in the Butterflies of France section of the site.

This widespread species of high altitudes is described in the Butterflies of Britain and Butterflies of France section of the site.

In Spain, it is restricted to the Cordillera Cantabrica and Pyrenees - it is not a species found in the mountains further south.

Endemic to the Pyrenees, this beautiful little butterfly is a common sight in sunny, alpine meadows.

Five different Marbled White species occur in Spain, and all are very similar in appearance.  Locality can be helpful in distinguishing them, but the best way is to look at the upper side of the forewings, as each species has a different arrangement of colours in the cells.

The Marbled White, the commonest of the Melanargia species in Europe, is restricted to the northern mountains of Spain, being primarily a continental European species.  It has a large, unmarked white cell next the body at the leading edge of the forewing.

The Iberian Marbled White has no black markings between the white cell and the body, a character also shared with the Western Marbled White (see below). Esper's Marbled White has a thin, jagged black line through the middle of the white cell.

The Marbled White complex can be tricky for novices like me, with several very similar localised species occurring alongside the 'normal' M.galathera.  Four of these are found in Spain.

The Iberian Marbled White is found across Spain, apart from the Pyrenees.  It differs from M.galathera in having no black markings in the basal areas of the fore- and hindwings.

This species can be seen across the Iberian Peninsula and is fairly easy to recognise, as the most similar species are found in other areas of Europe.

Key characters of H.fagi are the bold white band on the underwings, bordered with a wavy black line, and the underside of the forewing having an eye-spot bordered with yellow (just visible in this photograph).

The Woodland Grayling has a very restricted distribution in Spain, limited to the Pyrenean foothills.  It is much more widespread in central and southern Europe.

Widespread across much of southern and eastern Europe, this is a butterfly of dry places.  Despite its common name, it is not particularly associated with trees.

The markings of this rather drab species are understated but distinctive - the large yellow-ringed ocelli on the underwings are separated by small white spots.  The grey underside of the hindwings also has a single wavy black line across them, rather than a double one (as seen on Freyer's Grayling, which does not occur in Spain).

This very widespread European species is described in the Butterflies of Britain section of the site.

This very streamlined-looking butterfly is almost restricted to the Iberian Peninsula in Europe, although it also occurs in northern Africa.  No other European species resembles it in its underwing pattern.

The Striped Grayling is a species of rocky areas at moderate altitudes and can be seen across most of Spain, except the much wetter north-west.

This familiar species is described in the Butterflies of Britain section of the site.