''Limenitis camilla'', the (Eurasian) white admiral, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

of the family

Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have a red ...

. It is found in woodland throughout southern

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

and much of Europe and the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

, extending as far east as

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Adult white admirals have dark wings with white bands. The contrasting colours help to break up the outline of the wing, camouflaging it from predators. They have a wingspan of approximately 60–65 mm and have a distinctive, elegant flight consisting of short periods of wing beats, followed by long glides. The white admiral feeds on

bramble A bramble is any rough, tangled, prickly shrub, usually in the genus ''Rubus'', which grows blackberries, raspberries, or dewberries. "Bramble" is also used to describe other prickly shrubs, such as roses (''Rosa'' species). The fruits inclu ...

blossom and honeydew and the female will lay its eggs singly on wisps of

honeysuckle Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae, native to northern latitudes in North America and Eurasia. Approximately 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified in both conti ...

growing in dense woodland. The

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...

s are green with red-brown hairs and are camouflaged on a leaf by a mixture of their own droppings and silk. As autumn approaches it will form a tent-like structure made of leaf tissue known as a hibernaculum which it then secures to the stem with silk before hibernating. The caterpillar will then awaken the following spring and after a brief spell of feeding will moult, revealing a spiny green skin. It will then pupate during the summer, forming a green and gold

chrysalis A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

. After approximately two weeks the adult will emerge. Larvae feed on ''

Lonicera Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae, native to northern latitudes in North America and Eurasia. Approximately 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified in both contin ...

'' ('' L. japonica'', '' L. xylosteum'', '' L. tatarica'', '' L. maackii'', '' L. gibbiflora'') and ''

Weigela ''Weigela'' is a genus of between six and 38 speciesAll of the species listed in the 'Selected species' section are accepted by The Plant List, but most are still under review, and therefore subject to changes in status. of deciduous shrubs in ...

horstensis''.

Description in Seitz

''L. Camilla'' L. (= sibilla L., aucl. cet.)(57a, b). Very similar to the preceding species [''sydyi'' L. sydyi Led. (female 57a). Blackish brown, with white spots on the forewing and a strongly elbowed white band on the hindwing; at the apex of the forewing, especially in the female, some reddish brown smears. Underside for the most part brownish, the hindwing bluish at the base and abdominal margin, in the distal area with 2 rows of blackish spots, the spots of the outer row being lunate and forming the borders of a further row of whitish spots. The females have a less intense ground-colour, the whitish submarginal spots of the hindwing and the light and reddish patches in the cell of the forewing are more distinct.]; however, the position of the spots of the forewing is different and the band of the hindwing is but slightly curved, not elbowed; on the underside the black spots in the marginal area of the hindwing are all rounded, there being no band of light spots outside them as in ''sydyi''. Seitz. A. in Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, ''Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter'', 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren)

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically:"''Limenitis'' Fabricius, 1807"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' *''L. c. camilla'' – Europe, Caucasus, Transcaucasia *''L. c. japonica'' Ménétriés, 1857 – Amur, Ussuri, Korea, China Limenitis camilla MHNT CUT 2013 3 15 Compiegne Dos.jpg, Dorsal side Limenitis camilla MHNT CUT 2013 3 15 Compiegne Ventre.jpg, Ventral Side Limenitis camilla - Kotrippe (HS).jpg, Young caterpillar Limenitis camilla - Hibernarium 2 (HS).jpg,

Chrysalis A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

Limenitis camilla larva beentree.jpg, Caterpillar Britishentomologyvolume5Plate124.jpg, Illustration from John Curtis's '' British Entomology'' Volume 5

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Limenitis Camilla camilla Butterflies of Asia Butterflies of Europe Butterflies of Japan Butterflies described in 1764 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus