Eastern Dappled White Butterfly - Euchloe ausonia

Phylum: Arthropoda - Class: Insecta - Order: Lepidoptera - Family: Pieridae

The differences between the Eastern Dappled White, Euchloe ausonia, and the Western Dappled White, Euchloe crameri, cannot be discerned without very close and expert examination, and so only at the extremes of their geographical range does a field observation distinguish between the two. The specimens shown on this page were photographed in Bulgaria, which is well outside the distribution range of the Western Dappled White.

Distribution

This butterfly does not occur in Britain or Ireland. Very much a butterfly of warm dry climates, the Eastern Dappled White is found from Italy eastwards across in to Asia; it is very common in the Greece (including many of the Greek Islands) and the southern Balkan states, and its range extends into the Middle East.

Lifecycle

The eggs are laid on the undersides of larval foodplants which, as with so many white butterflies are members of the family Brassicaceae (formerly referred to as the Cruciferae).

The Eastern Marbled White hibernates in its pupal stage.

Adults emerge in early March, and in a succession of broods new adults occur through to July.

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