The orange-tip butterfly: Ten months of waiting for spring. 🧡⏳

The orange tip (Anthocharis cardamines) is a classic harbinger of spring, with the males standing out due to their bright orange wingtips. It spends the majority of its life, about ten months, as a pupa (chrysalis). The caterpillar pupates in early summer, usually on a stem of its food plant (e.g., cuckooflower). In this inconspicuous girdle pupa, which is perfectly camouflaged, it survives the entire summer, autumn, and winter until it hatches the following spring.

[Photo: Carsten Heinecke, Oldenburg (DE)]