Butterfly Extravaganza - Installment 2 - Pieridae

The late Summer bonanza of colour, from our Lepidoptera visitors, may have passed but the season of butterflies has been much talked about and enjoyed.  The vast array of Field Nats butterfly images needs to be shared.
The Pieridae family is represented by medium-sized white, orange or yellow butterflies, with black spots on their forewings.  Their skittish behaviour is  a challenge for the avid photographer of butterflies.  There are, of  course, variations on this theme.

PIERIDAE

            Albatross, Common/ Yellow (Appias paulina ega)

Cecile Espigole

Ian Smith

Ian Smith

Male & Female 53mm.  Common white migratory butterfly.  Flies rapidly.  Rainforests and vine scrub.
Host: Yellow Tulip ( Drypetes deplanchei ).

                     Gull, Caper / Australian (Cepora perimale)

Allan Pratt

Male & Female 43mm.  Common white butterfly, flies rapidly.  Dry vine forests, parks , gardens, rainforest edges.
Host: Native capparis species (C. mitchelii,sarmentosa, velutina).
                      

             Caper White (Belenois java)

Allan Pratt

Cecile Espigole

Male , Female 55mm.  Migratory. Visits many types of environments where the host plants occur.
Host: (Capparis spp.).
             Grass Yellow, Common / Large (Eurema hecabe)

Kerrie O'Donnell

Ian Smith

Ian Smith

Male 37mm, Female 40mm.  Usually found, quite easily fluttering close to the ground 

and flying very quickly.  Gardens, parks, open forests, rainforest edges.                

Host: Wattles (Acacia spp.), native sennas (Senna spp.), Breynia (Breynia oblongifolia). 

     

Grass Yellow, Small (Eurema smilax)

Kerrie O'Donnell

Male 30mm, Female 33mm.  Common.  Slow erratic flight, nearly always close to the ground.  This species can continue development in cooler weather and is therefore widely distributed.

Host: Edge Senna (Senna acclinis) an endangered plant which can be sourced from some Landcare nurseries, Native Sensitive Plant (Neptunia gracilis). 

Jezebel, Black / Common (Delias negrina)

Ian Smith

Male 62mm, Female 61mm.  Usually flies high and erratically. Common.  Hinterland rainforests in Summer, and migrates to coastal rainforest, woodlands and open forests in Winter. 

Host: Native mistletoe, (Amyema and Dendrophthoe spp.).

Jezebel, Scarlet/ Northern (Delias argenthona)

Ian Smith

Cecile Espigole

             

Male 62mm, Female 61mm.  Usually flies high. Occurs in coastal paperbark woodlands where mistletoe grow.

Host: Native mistletoe.

             Jezebel, Yellow-spotted(Delia nysa nysa)

Cecile Espigole

Male, Female 50mm.   Found in mixed dry rainforest (vine scrub), subtropical and warm-temperate rainforest. 

 Host: (Korthalsella breviarticulata), Pincushion mistletoe, (Amyema gaudichaudii)

Lemon Migrant (Catopsilia pomona)

Kerrie O'Donnell

Ian Smith

Male & Female 58mm.  Migratory butterfly.  Short life cycle.  Breeds in large numbers in the north of their range.  Flies rapidly.  Adults come in a variety of colour forms from lime green to yellow/ white.

Host: (Cassia brewsteri, marksiana), Golden Rain (Cassia fistula) exotic.