Argynnis niobe (Linnaeus, 1758)
Fabriciana niobe (Linnaeus, 1758)


Additional German names: Stiefmütterchen-Perlmutterfalter, Mittlerer Permuttfalter, Bergmatten-Perlmuttfalter.

De Moya et al. (2017) have performed a detailed phylogeny analysis of the genus Argynnis in a wider sense and have restricted the genus Argynnis to a small number of species closely related to Argynnis paphia. The authors discuss the arguments for and against this restrictive use of Argynnis and conclude that the restriction is better supported than lumping all species into an expanded Argynnis in the wider sense. Therefore, these authors recognize three genera: Argynnis (in a restricted sense), Fabriciana and Speyeria. The thorough analysis by De Moya et al. (2017) provides very convincing arguments for this concept of three genera instead of a single huge Argynnis and therefore I adopt this concept here. The present species is a member of the genus Fabriciana, and its closest relative is the Asian species Fabriciana xipe. For a possible subgeneric system derived from the phylogeny by De Moya et al. (2017), please see Fabriciana adippe.