Brimstone butterfly on a Flower

by Chris Smith

Title

Brimstone butterfly on a Flower

Artist

Chris Smith

Medium

Photograph

Description

Brimstone butterfly perched on a purple flower.
Gonepteryx rhamni (known as the Common Brimstone) is a butterfly of the Pieridae family. It lives in Europe, North Africa and Asia; across much of its range, it is the only species of its genus, and is therefore simply known locally as the brimstone.
On the upper side the male is sulphur yellow and the female white with a greenish tinge but both have an orange spot in the centre of each wing. They never settle with their wings open and from the underside the sexes are more difficult to separate but the female is still paler. Their wing shape is unique among British butterflies (although there are similar, closely related species in southern and eastern Europe) and is designed to act as camouflage while they rest and during hibernation.
G. rhamni lives in Europe, North Africa and Asia as far east as Mongolia. It is widely distributed across the southern half of the United Kingdom, and has been steadily increasing its range in the north of England but is limited by the distribution of its larval foodplants and is quite possibly close to its maximum possible distribution now unless their foodplants' range also increases. In Ireland, it has a much more localised distribution.

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September 11th, 2014

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