Orange tip (Anthocharis cardamines

Hey dear community, I hope you are all well and you had a day full of interesting experiences! In this post, I would like to bring an insect a little closer and I hope you can expand your knowledge about nature.

This butterfly is also known as the Orange tip butterfly and the scientific name is Anthocharis cardamines and it is mainly widespread in Europe or Asia where it is particularly common in Japan. It is a rather common butterfly, but it is becoming increasingly rare in some places and the numbers are growing and this can be attributed to the changes of the habitats and this butterfly can typically be found in humid areas such as meadows or road edges. The females lay an egg on suitable fodder plants and after only 4 to 10 days the caterpillars hatch from it, which are considered loners and in the first weeks the caterpillar concentrates on the search for food and growth and then settles down for pupation. The chrysalis winters and in the next year, depending on the weather, the butterflies hatch between March or April and the caterpillars feed on other plant parts while the butterflies usually concentrate on nectar. In the state of the caterpillar, it is difficult to recognize and is able to protect itself well from natural predators and resembles the appearance of the color of the plant on which the caterpillar is currently sitting and the butterfly unfortunately has closed the wings in the pictures and typical is the green and yellow appearance while on the inner side the females got a white wing color as well as an orange-white in males. If the wings are closed as in the pictures, this is a good example to demonstrate how the insects camouflage and merge with their surroundings so that other living beings cannot recognize them and the wings reach a wingspan between 35 - 50 mm. From a symbolic point of view, it is a typical sign of transformation and it is often associated with the goddess of the dawn Aurora from Roman mythology and in ancient Greece it was linked to the inner soul or transformation.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you could learn something new about nature! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens.