, belonging to the large didyma'' group
(minerva'' group)
(phoebe'' group) As noted above,
Mellicta is considered to be a
subgenus of
Melitaea for the time being. The rationale is that even though the Melitaeina may not be
monotypic, they do not seem to consist of just two genera (
Melitaea and
Mellicta) either, and recognition of
Mellicta appears to leave
Melitaea paraphyletic; consequently, other lineages would need elevation to distinct genus status also. As long as it is not fully known which species groups and/or subgenera warrant recognition as full genera, they are all retained in the present genus.
Species In the following list, species-group/subgenus affiliation and
type species are annotated. In the
sensu lato circumscription used here,
Melitaea contains almost ninety
species. Most being assignable to one of the five groups/subgenera, there are a few that cannot be clearly placed with one of these at present: '''
didyma/Didymaeformia group''' •
Melitaea abyssinica Oberthür, 1909 •
Melitaea acraeina (Staudinger, 1886) •
Melitaea agar Oberthür, 1888 •
Melitaea ala Staudinger, 1881 •
Melitaea alraschid Higgins, 1941 •
Melitaea ambrisia Higgins, 1935 •
Melitaea arduinna (Esper, 1783) – Freyer's fritillary •
Melitaea athene Staudinger, 1881 •
Melitaea avinovi Sheljuzhko, 1914 •
Melitaea casta (Kollar, [1848]) •
Melitaea chitralensis Moore, 1901 •
Melitaea deserticola Oberthür, 1909 – desert fritillary •
Melitaea didyma (Esper, 1778) – spotted fritillary, red-band fritillary (type of
Didymaeformis) •
Melitaea didymina Staudinger, 1895 •
Melitaea didymoides Eversmann, 1847 •
Melitaea enarea Fruhstorfer, 1917 •
Melitaea fergana Staudinger, 1882 •
Melitaea infernalis Grum-Grshimailo, 1891 •
Melitaea interrupta Kolenati, 1846 •
Melitaea jitka Weiss & Major, 2000 •
Melitaea kotshubeji Sheljuzhko, 1929 •
Melitaea latonigena Eversmann, 1847 •
Melitaea lunulata Staudinger, 1901 •
Melitaea lutko Evans, 1932 •
Melitaea meherparvari Carbonell, 2007 •
Melitaea mimetica Higgins, 1940 •
Melitaea mixta Evans, 1912 •
Melitaea ninae Sheljuzhko, 1935 •
Melitaea persea Kollar, [1850] •
Melitaea pseudoala Sheljuzhko, 1928 •
Melitaea robertsi Butler, 1880 – Baluchi fritillary •
Melitaea romanovi Grum-Grshimailo, 1891 •
Melitaea sarvistana Wiltshire, 1941 •
Melitaea saxatilis Christoff, 1876 •
Melitaea shandura Evans, 1924 •
Melitaea sutschana Staudinger, 1892 •
Melitaea trivia Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775 – lesser spotted fritillary, desert fritillary •
Melitaea yuenty Oberthür, 1888 '''
cinxia/Melitaea sensu stricto group''' •
Melitaea amoenula C. & R.Felder, [1867] •
Melitaea arcesia Bremer, 1861 – blackvein fritillary •
Melitaea balbita Moore, 1874 •
Melitaea bellona Leech, [1892] •
Melitaea cinxia (Linnaeus, 1758) – Glanville fritillary (type of
Melitaea) •
Melitaea diamina (Lang, 1789) – false-heath fritillary •
Melitaea jezabel Oberthür, 1888 •
Melitaea protomedia Ménétriés, 1859 •
Melitaea sindura Moore, 1865 '''
minerva group''' •
Melitaea asteroidea Staudinger, 1881 •
Melitaea balba Evans, 1912 •
Melitaea elisabethae Avinoff, 1910 •
Melitaea ludmilla Churkin, Kolesnichenko & Tuzov, 2000 •
Melitaea minerva Staudinger, 1881 •
Melitaea pallas Staudinger, 1886 •
Melitaea solona Alphéraky, 1881 •
Melitaea sultanensis Staudinger, 1886 •
Melitaea turanica Erschoff, 1874 '''
phoebe/Cinclidia group''' •
Melitaea aetherie (Hübner, 1826) – aetherie fritillary •
Melitaea collina Lederer, 1861 •
Melitaea consulis Wiltshire, 1941 •
Melitaea gina Higgins, 1941 •
Melitaea kuchi Wyatt, 1961 •
Melitaea phoebe Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775 – knapweed fritillary (type of
Cinclidia) •
Melitaea pseudosibina Alberti, 1969 •
Melitaea punica Oberthür, 1876 •
Melitaea scotosia Butler, 1878 •
Melitaea sibina Alphéraky, 1881 •
Melitaea telona Christoph, 1893 (formerly in
M. phoebe or
M. punica) •
Melitaea turkmanica Higgins, 1940 '''
Mellicta group'''
of the Mellicta'' group •
Melitaea alatauica Staudinger, 1881 •
Melitaea ambigua Ménétriés in Schrenck, 1859 •
Melitaea asteria (Freyer, 1828) – little fritillary •
Melitaea athalia (Rottemburg, 1775) – heath fritillary (type of
Mellicta) •
Melitaea aurelia Nickerl, 1850 – Nickerl's fritillary •
Melitaea britomartis Assmann, 1847 – Assmann's fritillary •
Melitaea caucasogenita Verity, 1930 •
Melitaea centralasiae (Wnukowsky, 1929) (sometimes in
M. menetriesi) •
Melitaea deione Geyer, 1832 – Provençal fritillary •
Melitaea menetriesi Caradja, 1895 •
Melitaea nevadensis Oberthür, 1904 •
Melitaea parthenoides Keferstein, 1851 – European meadow fritillary, meadow fritillary •
Melitaea plotina Bremer, 1861 •
Melitaea rebeli Wnukowsky, 1929 •
Melitaea varia (Meyer-Dür, 1851) – Grisons fritillary •
Melitaea westsibirica (Dubatolov, 1998)
Incertae sedis •
Melitaea kunlunensis Kudrna & Mracek, 1994 •
Melitaea oorschoti Eckweiler, 2008 •
Melitaea paludani Clench & Shoumatoff, 1956 •
Melitaea tangigharuensis de Freina, 1980 •
Melitaea wiltshirei Higgins, 1941 == Footnotes ==