Falcate orangetip
The falcate orangetip is a small white butterfly of early spring. The boys have bright orange tips on their front wings, but the girls do not. Underneath, its back wings are covered in pretty green marbling.
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Fun facts
Its eggs are yellow green, but they turn red just before the caterpillar hatches.
The caterpillars sometimes eat smaller caterpillars on the same plant.
Its chrysalis has a spike on its head, so it looks a bit like a thorn.
The chrysalis can wait two years or even longer before the butterfly comes out.
It only flies in spring, from about March to May.
Most asked questions about Falcate orangetip
?Do all falcate orangetips have orange tips?
No. Only the males have orange wing tips. The females are white.
?What does the falcate orangetip eat?
The butterflies drink nectar from violets and mustards. The caterpillars eat flowers and seed pods.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Anthocharis midea
- Named by
- Hübner, 1809
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Pieridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Pieridae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Anthocharis midea (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Charles Johnson Maynard. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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