A fritillary butterfly on a thistle. This was a stamp design winner for 1990.
The fritillary gets its name from the checkered pattern on the wings (fritilus is Latin for dice box or chessboard). This particular one is possibly a silver-washed fritillary that feeds on brambles and thistles. The males are smaller and paler than the female.
5 comments:
Beautiful. I like how it stands out against the mysterious background, it even outshines the thistle.
Very subtle, and neat to see the background be a large part of the stamp when the butterfly is the main feature.
This is a lovely stamp.
Thank you for the including the etymology of the word "fritillary" - I've never heard of the word and you saved my time from having to Google it ;-)
All butterflies look better in their natural surroundings. Fine stamp.
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