The colourful ends of the forewings of the male Orange-tip, Anthocharis cardamines, give this butterfly its common name (these orange patches are absent in the female). Being more noticeable therefore than the female, which spends her time searching for food plants on which to lay eggs, the male’s colouration is thought to be a warning to would-be predators that its palatability is reduced because of an accumulation of mustard oils in its body from eating garlic mustard and cuckooflower during its larval development. These flowers are found along hedgerows, woodland edges and the like. Both sexes have mottled green underwings which aid camouflage when resting on the foodplants.
When the female Orange-tip finds a suitable newly opened flower, she ‘tastes’ it with contact chemoreceptors on her feet and, if she finds it suitable, she will lay a single egg only as their larvae are cannibalistic! She also produces a pheromone to deter other females from laying eggs. The light-green colour of the emerging larva is an effective camouflage as it feeds on the developing seedpods.
