Observation date: July 26, 2025
Date notes: hot, and muggy, it rained this morning in 80's
Submitted by: Allison Barta
Specimen type: Photograph
Observation notes: Feeding on Black eyed susan flowers, would not open its wings often, I tried and tried to get that dorsal photo
Lucky.. just as it flew up I was taking a photo. so this is an IN FLIGHT PHOTO. It was quite a surprise to find this individual. If I hadn't gone down this road nobody would've ever seen it.
Status: Resident
Verified by: jmgesell
Verified date: July 27, 2025
Coordinator notes: Very cool find! It's definitely an aberrant Aphrodite or Great Spangled Fritillary. With the aberrancy coloration, it's nearly impossible to determine which of the species it actually is. Both are found in your region and are in flight at this time of year, so I'll leave it as your guess as an Aphrodite. This aberrancy is a result of a defective "border control" gene - or the WntA gene more specifically. Nobody knows why this occurs, and it seems pretty random in occurrence and distribution. -Jeff Gesell
