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Butterflies have variable sets of spectral photoreceptors that underlie colour vision. The photoreceptor organization may be optimized for the detection of body coloration. Fritillaries (Argynnini) are nymphalid butterflies exhibiting varying degrees of sexual dimorphism in wing coloration. In two sister species, the females have orange (Argynnis paphia) and dark wings (Argynnis sagana), respectively, while the males of both species have orange wings with large patches of pheromone-producing androconia. In spite of the differences in female coloration, the eyes of both species exhibit an identical sexual dimorphism. The female eyeshine is uniform yellow, while the males have a complex retinal mosaic with yellow and red-reflecting ommatidia. We found the basic set of ultraviolet-, blue- and green-peaking photoreceptors in both sexes. Males additionally have three more photoreceptor classes, peaking in green …