Argynnis mormonia mormonia

Mormon Fritillary

I will always associate this fritillary with the high mountain meadows of Sherman Pass Road, where they can be the most common butterfly in these magical wet forest openings. According to Ken Davenport, who knows the area well, mormonia ranges south to the Kern plateau, so is technically in southern California as I've defined it for this website. He says it doesn not fly in the Greenhorns. It's a high elevation butterfly, with adults emerging in the summer. Population sizes vary from year to year as conditions tend to vary in those habitats, so one year they may be exceedingly common, and another you may wonder whether they are flying at all.