Both the Queen Of Spain and the Duke Of Burgundy names appeared for the first time in the second half of the eighteenth century, and both in the works of the artist and illustrator Moses Harris.    Unfortunately Harris did not explain these names, nor did anyone else.
   Regardless of this, they have been the accepted names for these two beautiful butterflies ever since.
   This species is present almost throughout the year, with three or four successive generations.
   In the dry regions they carry out a seasonal vertical migration between hardy evergreen shrubs and small trees of plains and mountain fir pines, where they remain in summer to descend in autumn to low altitudes.
   This migrant species is found in a variety of mainly dryish habitats including heathland and herb-rich meadows, but also in fields with arable crops, on rocky hill slopes, and on woodland edges.
   Their wings show a deep orange violet background, with rounded black spots arranged in regular rows and suffused with greenish gray in the females.
   The ventral side of the hindwings is decorated with large pearly nacreous spots and it is crossed by a postdiscal row of black eyespots with pearly pupils.
   Some pearly spots also appear at the apex of the forewings.
   The Queen of Spain Fritillary is a large and distinctive butterfly. 
   Its hindwings are more sharply angular than most other fritillaries, and the dorsal wings have regular rows of rounded spots.