Provence Orange Tip (Anthocharis euphenoides)
2011 photos highlighted in green. Click on any photo to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.
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| 0455_male_Var_9May06 | 4973_male_Var_25Apr07 | 24400_male_Var_25Apr11 |
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| 0475_female_Var_9May06 | 10118_female_Var_1May08 | 14824_male_Var_01May09 |
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| 24398_male_Var_25Apr11 | 9769_pair_Var_13Apr08 | 0461_female_Var_9May06 |
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Superficially similar in markings to the Orange Tip (A. cardamines), but the male has a delicious pale yellow upperside with orange tips with darker inside edging. The female is white with slight orange colouration across the upf black apical area, although on 0475 the orange extends well beyond the apex (more so than on any other female I have seen) to the extent that it almost needs a close look to ascertain that it is not a male cardamines. |
It is essentially an Iberian species which also occurs in the eastern Pyrénées and southern France and is single brooded, appearing in May and disappearing by June. It is not really common, but the male can hardly be missed or confused with anything else, and so it tends to get noticed. It used to be considered to be a subspecies of the Morocco Orange Tip (A. belia) but is now widely recognised as a separate species, with belia now relating to the north African race. |
| ref | sex |
observations |
alt. m |
| 0455 | M |
typical male upperside of a rather worn specimen. |
185 |
| 4973 | M |
a male, another poor photo, mainly because they are highly active and never seem to settle. |
450 |
| 24400 | M | a fresher male than the two above, more accurately reflecting the creamy yellow ground colour. 24398 is the underside. | 450 |
| 0475 | F |
a female upperside, with an exceptional amount of orange in the apical area, reaching almost to the discoidal spot. |
185 |
| 10118 | F |
a female, with a lesser amount of apical orange, but probably more typical. The body shape is, I suspect, due to a courtship activity, as the male was just out of shot. |
185 |
| 14824 | M |
a male underside, with the unf showing and revealing the orange colouring of the apical area. |
220 |
| 24398 | M | a male underside, the pose being typical of roosting euphenoides, with the unf orange patch not being visible. 24400 is the upperside. | 450 |
| 9769 | PAIR |
a mating pair. I would guess that the male is on the left, based on the relative size, and some subtleties in the markings. |
450 |
| 0461 | F |
a female underside, as the orange of the male unf apical area is much the same on the unf (as in 14824). |
185 |
