Provence Orange Tip (Anthocharis euphenoides)
2009 photos highlighted in yellow. 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 | 0475_female_Var_9May06 |
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| 10118_female_Var_1May08 | 14824_male_Var_01May09 | 9769_pair_Var_13Apr08 |
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| 0461_female_Var_9May06 |
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, which is just about visible on 0455 and 4973 but these rather poor photos do not really reflect its beautiful colouration. The female is white with slight orange colouration across the forewing 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 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 Pyrenees 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.
0455: a typical male upperside. Altitude 185m.
4973: a male, another poor photo, mainly because they are so highly active and never seem to settle. Altitude 450m.
0475: a female upperside, with an exceptional amount of orange in the apical area, reaching almost to the cell spot. Altitude 185m.
10118: a female, with a lesser amount of apical orange, but probably more typical. The strange body shape is, I suspect, due to a courtship activity, as the male was just out of shot. Altitude 185m.
14824: a male underside, with the unf showing and revealing the orange colouring of the apical area. Altitude 220m.
9769: a mating pair. I would guess that the male is on the left, based on the relative size, and some subtleties in the markings. Altitude 450m.
0461: a female underside, as the orange of the male unf apical area is much the same on the unf (as in 14824). Altitude 185m.
