Common Brimstone (10 x 5 cm)

Description

The brimstone butterfly belongs to the Pieridae family of butterflies, dominated by white and
yellow colours. It lives in Europe and throughout Asia to Syria and Siberia. The brimstone
butterfly is a good flyer, and that is exactly why it travels widely.
It has been found everywhere in Denmark, and the adult butterfly appears from its hibernation
already in March, for which reason it is known as a true herald of spring, who with its beautiful
yellow color is telling us, that spring is now finally officially here. It lives on buckthorn, found in
moist forests.
The male brimstone butterfly is radiantly yellow, whereas the female brimstone butterfly has a
more subdued green-white color. Besides that there is no variety between the gender; it is
characteristic of them both that there are two orange spots on the underneath of the wings. The
wing span is typically 51-60 mm.
In early spring we can see that the radiantly yellow male butterfly is looking for a female butterfly
to mate with. The eggs are laid on the underneath of the buckthorn leaves. After one month the
caterpillar is grown up and it pupates. A new generation of brimstone butterflies appears in July and August.
The brimstone butterfly hibernates and tolerates severe frost, thereby demonstrating
great resilience.