Black-veined White - Aporia crataegi


Scientific Name: Aporia crataegi.

English Name: Black-veined White

French Name: Le Gazé (='gauzy') or la Piéride de l'aubepine (='hawthorn Pierid').

5 Key Characters:
  • large butterfly (forewing 28-35mm).
  • very visible black veins on wings.
  • translucent but very pure white wings.
  • often present in large numbers.
  • found in grasslands with nearby hawthorn, whitebeam, service tree, rowan, amelanchier, blackthorn or damson.
Lookalikes: None.

Habitat: Hedges, wooded grasslands colonised by trees in the rose family (Rosaceae) .

Flight Period: April-May-June-July-August.

Status: Very common, but every few years appears in particularly high numbers. This is a conspicuous and easy to see butterfly in the Touraine Loire Valley and Brenne.

Caterpillar: August to early June, overwintering communally in a silken nest. The photograph below was taken in April. The caterpillar was probably searching for a suitable grass stem to pupate on. They sometimes cause damage to fruit trees.

Host Plant: Members of the rose family (Rosaceae). Often Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna, but also Sorbus spp (Whitebeam S. aria, Service Tree S. domestica, Rowan S.aucuparia), Amelanchier Amelanchier ovalis, Blackthorn Prunus spinosa and Damson P. institia. Occasionally Apples Malus spp.

Photographed by Loire Valley Nature:

Photographs are numbered from left to right, top to bottom. All photos enlarge into a new window if you click on them. 1 specimen found dead near Boussay, July.











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