Nymphalidae : Limenitidinae
White Admiral
LIMENITIS camilla (Linnaeus, 1764)
White Admiral
LIMENITIS camilla (Linnaeus, 1764)
Life Cycle Guide
Description
Wingspan: Male 56-64mm : Female 58-66mm
Worldwide Distribution: Central Europe : S.Russia : Central Asia : China : Japan : Korea
UK Distribution: Central & Southern England : Eastern Counties of Wales : Not Scotland or Ireland
UK Conservation Status -
Flight Period: Mid June-Mid August : Univoltine
Habitat: Deciduous Sunny Woodlands : Conifer Forests with Deciduous wooded margins.
Ovum: Unlike other butterflies the female flies close to the forest ground in search of the spindly growths of Honeysuckle that do not flower to deposit her ovum, rather than choosing the growing leaves. Having found a suitable wispy growth she deposit a single ovum, which is glass like and shaped like a golf ball or sea urchin,to the upper surface. This stage lasts 2-3 weeks.
Larva: The young caterpillar sits on the midrib of a leaf and nibbles, from the tip, either side, leaving the tell tale sign that makes this stage the easiest to find in late summer,early autumn. As autumn progresses the young larva produces a hibernaculum out of the Honeysuckle leaf and attaches it to the stem with silk to prevent the leaf from detaching itself from the plant.Here the larva spends the winter before emerging to feed the following spring. After the final instar the larva turns green and is well camoflagued against the young Honeysuckle leaf.
Pupa: The beautiful pupa hangs upside down like a dying leaf and emerges after two to three weeks.
Overwinters as: Early stage larva
Observations: One of the joys of summer is seeing this magnificent butterfly elegantly gliding amongst the mature Oak trees or feverishly feeding on Bramble blossom, in the sunny glades within the forest.
It can, to the untrained eye, often be confused with the Purple Emperor which shares the same habitat but the White Admiral is considerably smaller with a graceful gliding flight and a tendancy to stay close to the forest outline.
It is also common to find the White Admiral settled on the ground taking salts or taking minerals from animal droppings.
One of my most unusual finds was to see a White Admiral avidly taking minerals from a "road kill" which was a somewhat chilling experience for me.
The males are slightly smaller than the females and are black whereas the female tends to be browner with more rounded wings than the male.
Worldwide Distribution: Central Europe : S.Russia : Central Asia : China : Japan : Korea
UK Distribution: Central & Southern England : Eastern Counties of Wales : Not Scotland or Ireland
UK Conservation Status -
- NERC S.41 : 2008 (England) & NERC S.42 : 2009 (Wales) - Species "of principle importance for the purpose of conserving biodiversity
- Vulnerable - Butterfly Red List for Great Britain 2010
- BAP : 2007 - Priority Species
- Possibly Near Threatened Insufficient Data
- Papilio camilla (Linnaeus 1764)
- Papilio populi (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Germany
Flight Period: Mid June-Mid August : Univoltine
Habitat: Deciduous Sunny Woodlands : Conifer Forests with Deciduous wooded margins.
Ovum: Unlike other butterflies the female flies close to the forest ground in search of the spindly growths of Honeysuckle that do not flower to deposit her ovum, rather than choosing the growing leaves. Having found a suitable wispy growth she deposit a single ovum, which is glass like and shaped like a golf ball or sea urchin,to the upper surface. This stage lasts 2-3 weeks.
Larva: The young caterpillar sits on the midrib of a leaf and nibbles, from the tip, either side, leaving the tell tale sign that makes this stage the easiest to find in late summer,early autumn. As autumn progresses the young larva produces a hibernaculum out of the Honeysuckle leaf and attaches it to the stem with silk to prevent the leaf from detaching itself from the plant.Here the larva spends the winter before emerging to feed the following spring. After the final instar the larva turns green and is well camoflagued against the young Honeysuckle leaf.
Pupa: The beautiful pupa hangs upside down like a dying leaf and emerges after two to three weeks.
Overwinters as: Early stage larva
Observations: One of the joys of summer is seeing this magnificent butterfly elegantly gliding amongst the mature Oak trees or feverishly feeding on Bramble blossom, in the sunny glades within the forest.
It can, to the untrained eye, often be confused with the Purple Emperor which shares the same habitat but the White Admiral is considerably smaller with a graceful gliding flight and a tendancy to stay close to the forest outline.
It is also common to find the White Admiral settled on the ground taking salts or taking minerals from animal droppings.
One of my most unusual finds was to see a White Admiral avidly taking minerals from a "road kill" which was a somewhat chilling experience for me.
The males are slightly smaller than the females and are black whereas the female tends to be browner with more rounded wings than the male.
Photo Gallery
L.c.obliterae Robson & Gardner, 1886
Larval Food Plants Worldwide
Note - Plants hyperlinked in red below take the visitor to the relevant plant page on"Plants for a Future" website
where further information like photos,physical
characteristics,habitats,edible uses,medicinal
uses,cultivation,propagation,range,height etc. are clearly listed.
- Plant Families - in bold red below takes the visitor to the relevant "Lepi-plants" page where other butterflies & moths using the plants below are listed.
- Caprifoliaceae - Honeysuckle Family
- Lonicera caprifolium - Italian Honeysuckle
- Lonicera japonica - Japananese Honeysuckle
- Lonicera maackii - Amur Honeysuckle
- Lonicera periclymenum - Wild Honeysuckle
- Lonicera tatarica - Tartarian Honeysuckle
- Symphoricarpos albus laevigatus - Snowberry
- Weigela hortensis - Bush Honeysuckle
Larval Food Plants
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Taxonomy
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Kingdom:
Subkingdom: Phylum: Subphylum Class: Order: Superfamily: Family: Subfamily Tribe: Genus: Accepted Species Name: Type Species - LIMENITIS: Original Species Name: Genus Group Names: Literary Ref: Type Locality: Forms/Aberrations: Subspecies: |
Animalia
Eumetozoa Arthropoda Hexapoda Insecta Lepidoptera Papilionoidea Nymphalidae Limenitidinae Limenitidini LIMENITIS Fabricius, 1807 Limenitis camilla (Linnaeus, 1764) - Papilio populi (Linnaeus, 1758) - PAPILIO camilla (Linnaeus 1764) = populi Poda, 1761 = Papilio camilla Linnaeus, 1764 = Ladoga camilla Linnaeus, 1764 = prorsa Linnaeus, 1764 = Papilio sibilla Linnaeus, 1767 = Limenitis sibilla Linnaeus, 1769 = Limenitis camilla Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775 = Limenitis camilla Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775 = Limenitis drusilla Bergstrasser, 1779 = luctuosus Fourcroy, 1785 = xylostei Prunner, 1798 = Limenitis anonyma Lewis, 1872 = Limenitis sibylla var. stenotaenia Honrath, 1892 = angustefasciata Streckfuss, 1892 = stenotaenia Honrath, 1892 = puellula Fruhstorfer, 1909 = Limenitis schiffermulleri Higgins, 1933 = cantralitaliae Verity, 1950 = latealba Verity, 1950 = francottiana Hecq, 1990 - LIMENITIS Fabricius 1807 = Ladoga Moore 1898 - Museum S:æ R:æ M:tis Ludovicæ Ulricæ reginæ Svecorum, Gothorum, Vandalorumque &c. &c. &c. in quo animalia rariora, exotica, imprimis insecta & conchilia describuntur & determinantur prodromi instar editum. - pp.1-720, [1-2]. Holmiae. (Salvius). Title Page : p.304 n.122 - Germany - L.c. minor Derenne, 1932 L.c. nigrina Weymer, 1884 L.c. obliterae Robson & Gardner, 1886 - L.c.camilla Linnaeus, 1764-Central Europe : Caucasus : Transcaucasia L.c.japonica Ménétriés, 1857-Amur : Ussuri |