Observation date: August 10, 2025
Submitted by: Cascade Colors
Specimen type: Photograph
Observation notes: This inner portion of the wing seemed noticeable darker than other areas in person, though that's not as evident in the photo
Status: Resident
Verified by: mikefisher
Verified date: August 17, 2025
Coordinator notes: This female has characters much like aphrodite (wing veins are very thin to the extremities) and it looks very much like western Colorado aphrodite (subspecies sophia)...but it has a gray-blue eye (I selected and got a larger picture to see the eye) which is characteristic of hesperis (=nausicaa by genetics). Aprhrodite typically has brown eyes but there are some places where eye color is mixed between the two (probably due to hybridization or some gene introgression due to that). The underside would better be a more conclusive determiner in such instances. Hope this doesn't confuse you. We will stick with the eye-color as the determiner and other characters (dark wing bases with thick black accent markings) that most suggest hesperis (I commonly name the "Red-disc Fritillary"). Mike
