Male Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines) butterfly

Male Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines) butterfly

Description

Title:
Male Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines) butterfly
Caption / Description:

A male Orange Tip butterfly rests with its wings closed on a grape hyacinth flower in early Spring.

The Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines) is a butterfly in the Pieridae family. So named because of the male's bright orange tips to his forewings. The males are a common sight in spring flying along hedgerows and damp meadows in search of the more reclusive female which lacks the orange and is often mistaken for one of the other 'White' butterflies.

The undersides are mottled green and white and create a superb camouflage when settled on flowerheads such as Cow Parsley and Garlic Mustard Alliaria petiolata. The male is able to hide his orange tips by tucking the forwings behind the hindwings at rest. If you look closely at the mottling you will see that the green colour is in fact made up of a mixture of black and yellow scales.

It is found across Europe, and eastwards into temperate Asia as far as Japan. The past 30 years has seen a rapid increase in the range of the Orange Tip in the UK particularly in Scotland and Ireland, probably in response to climate change.

Description taken from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_tip

Tags / Keywords:
  • Biota
  • Life
  • Vitae
  • Eukaryota
  • Animalia
  • Animals
  • Arthropoda
  • Arthropods
  • Insecta
  • Insects
  • Lepidoptera
  • Moths
  • Butterflies
  • Skippers
  • Pieridae
  • Sulphurs & Whites
  • Muscari
  • Grape Hyacinth
  • Anthocharis
  • Orangetips
  • Anthocharis cardamines
  • Orange Tip
  • Wings closed
  • Resting

Admin

Date Original Photo Taken:
Original File Name:
_MG_6546.CR2
Event:
Rating:
Date this image added/last updated on website:
Original File Dimensions:
2848px x 4272px
File Type:
JPEG
Color Mode:
RGB
Original Image Color Profile:
Adobe RGB (1998)

Location

Location Created:
Sublocation:
City:
Market Harborough
Province/State:
Leicestershire
Country:
United Kingdom
World Region:
Europe
Geo-location:

Rights

Copyright Status:
Copyrighted
Licensing Status:
Rights Managed
Available for Editorial Use:
Yes
Available for Commercial Use:
Yes
Copyright Notice:
© 2011 Dave Kennard

Camera Data

Date Digital Resource was created:
Shutter speed:
1200 s
Aperture:
f/8
Camera Model:
Canon EOS 450D
ISO:
100
Exposure Compensation:
0
Focal Length:
65mm
Focal Length (35mm equiv.):
Metering Mode:
Center-weighted average
Flash:
On, Fired
Exposure Mode:
Manual
White Balance:
Manual
Light Source:
Exposure Program:
Manual

Additional shooting metadata

Lens:
Canon MP-E 65mm F2.8 1-5x Macro
Filters used:
Additional Optics used:
Setup:
Handheld
Canon MT-24EX Macro Twin Flash with home-made 'light tent' diffuser

Post Processing

Image Modified:
Software used:
  • Adobe Camera RAW
Post Processing:

+0.35 exposure compensation in ACR