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Friday
Apr052013

Butterfly

DateFri 2013-04-05

From last spring: a male orange-tip butterfly, Anthocharis cardamines (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) on lady's smock (Cardamine pratensis). 

The green and black pattern on the underside of the wings is apparently rather effective camouflage when the butterfly is at rest, feeding on a flower head.  The orange wing-tip is hidden away between the folded wings, only to be revealed in flight, when the butterfly is less easy to catch.

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2012-04-30.

AuthorTristram Brelstaff | CommentPost a Comment |
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