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Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007, and must not be published in part or in whole elsewhere without prior written permission from the author.
Butterflies of Britain & Europe
 
White Admiral
Limenitis ( Ladoga ) camilla LINNAEUS, 1763
Family - NYMPHALIDAE
subfamily - LIMENITIDINAE
Tribe - LIMENITINI
 
 introduction | habitats | lifecycle | adult behaviour
 
White Admiral Limenitis camilla, male, Hampshire, England
 
Introduction
 
The White Admiral is distributed across much of southern Britain, and throughout central Europe, but is absent from northern Scandinavia, most of the Iberian peninsula, and the Mediterranean region with the exception of western Italy. Beyond Europe it is found in Turkey, and across temperate Asia to north China, Korea and Japan.
 
White Admiral Limenitis camilla, Alice Holt forest, Hampshire, England
 
The White Admiral cannot really be confused with any other British species, although novice butterfly-watchers some times mistake it in flight for the Purple Emperor Apatura iris which shares similar habitats and flies at the same time of year. The Purple Emperor however is larger, has more pointed wings, and a much more powerful flight.
 
In southern Europe and western Asia camilla can be mistaken for it's close relative the Southern White Admiral Limenitis reducta, but that species has a prominent white spot in the discal cell of the upperside forewing, and has only a single row of black spots on the underside hindwing.
 
Habitats
 
In Britain the White Admiral occurs in most deciduous and mixed woodland complexes in the southern and central counties of England, but it is commonest in Wiltshire, Hampshire, Berkshire, West Sussex, Surrey, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
 
Within these woodlands the butterflies inhabit small sunny glades, narrow grassy rides, and lightly wooded areas where the larval foodplant honeysuckle grows in dappled sunlight, hanging as thin wisps from the boughs of oak, ash and other deciduous trees.
 
The butterflies rarely venture away from these areas, and are not normally encountered in clearings, wide sunny avenues, or dry open woodland.
 
White Admiral Limenitis camilla, male, Hampshire, England
 
Lifecycle
 
The butterflies are normally single-brooded, emerging in June, but occasionally produce a partial second brood in early autumn.
 
They lay their eggs singly, on honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum, near the edge on the upperside of the leaves. The eggs are laid on wispy growth, semi-concealed in the undergrowth, in dappled light or semi-shade. Luxuriant growth, or plants growing in sunlight are ignored by ovipositing females.
 
In July 2007 I watched a female ovipositing on wisps of honeysuckle about a metre within a hawthorn bush, and was interested to observe that the butterfly kept her wings spread wide open during the oviposition process ( butterflies normally oviposit with wings closed or half-open ). I also noted that females usually spend 2 or 3 minutes carefully inspecting the vegetation at ground level, before entering the undergrowth to oviposit.
 
The eggs are globular and grey. The surface is covered with hexagonal cells, and bears many tiny spines.
 
The caterpillars hatch after about 10 days. They give away their presence by leaving characteristic feeding marks - eating the tips of the leaves either side of the midrib, but leaving the uneaten midrib protruding. The young caterpillar disguises itself by covering it's body with pellets of frass ( droppings ), and often rests at the tip of the protruding midrib.
 
In September, when in it's second instar, the caterpillar constructs a shelter by folding a half eaten leaf, which it fastens together with strands of silk. It spends the winter months hibernating within the shelter, until the following March when it awakens and resumes feeding, becoming fully grown in late May.
 
The mature caterpillar is bright green with short dark orange spikes along the back, and longer spikes on the front segments. It rests in a characteristic posture, with the tail raised, and the front segments arched.
 
The chrysalis, which has a purplish abdomen, green wing cases, and a flattened knob projecting from the back, hangs suspended by the tail from a honeysuckle stem, and strongly resembles a withered leaf. The pupal stage lasts for about 2 weeks.
 
Adult behaviour

 

The White Admiral is amongst the most graceful of butterflies in flight. Males glide high in the tree tops, then descend, flitting and gliding delicately and with great precision, in and out amongst the foliage in search of females.

 

On 16th June 2007, I watched 7 males flying around a small oak in a Hampshire wood, and noted that they frequently settled to feed at acorn buds. They also regularly visited the flowers of bramble and dog rose - White Admirals rarely if ever visit any other species of flower.

 

White Admiral Limenitis camilla, female, Hampshire, England

 

Both sexes, but particularly the males, also imbibe "honey-dew" from the upper surface of oak leaves, high in the canopy. This honey dew is a sugary by-product expelled by the oak aphid Phylloxera quercus, as it sucks protein-rich fluids from oak leaves. Vast quantities of this substance coat the upper surface of oak leaves in mid-summer. Rainfall washes the honey-dew from the leaves, so after rainfall the butterflies tend to seek alternative forms of sustenance.

 

White Admiral Limenitis camilla, male, Hampshire, England

 

In hot weather they often descend to imbibe dissolved mineral salts from stony tracks in the forest, and I have seen them feeding on sticky fluids coating the stems of dock and other plants. I have also observed freshly emerged White Admirals drinking at frothy "cuckoo-spit" ( froghopper secretions ) on twigs and branches.

 

On overcast but warm days, the butterflies often spend long periods basking with wings held flat, on the foliage of bramble bushes, bracken or hazel, or on leaf litter on the forest floor. They will fly even during light rain if the weather is warm, but when it gets really hot they seek shade, resting on the upper surface of heavily shaded foliage.

 
                                                       
Almost every British and European species of butterfly is declining rapidly in numbers, due in most cases to loss or degradation of habitats.
 
You can help to reverse the decline by supporting conservation organisations which purchase and manage habitats as nature reserves, and which lobby government at local, national and international levels, often very successfully, to bring about changes in farming, forestry and urban development policies.
 
Please contact the conservation organisations for advice on how you can help protect British and European butterflies and their habitats. You may be able to offer practical help e.g. by monitoring butterfly populations or helping to manage nature reserves. Donations to these organisations enable them to employ ecologists and biologists. Even if you are unable to provide such help, merely having your name on the membership list can be a powerful tool for conservation organisations wishing to demonstrate the levels of support they have for their policies.

 

 
Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007-2008, and must not be reproduced or published in part or in whole elsewhere in any form without written permission from Adrian Hoskins. Breach of copyright will be pursued by litigation.
 
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