Brimstone butterfly
(Gonepteryx rhamni)
From the life of a butterfly
A female brimestone lays a single egg on the opening buds of their forage plants. The fodder plant here is a buckthorn (Frangula alnus).
The caterpillars feed on the foliage of shrubby buckthorn plants such as the buckthorn tree (Frangula alnus) here. But other types of buckthorn are also accepted.
The belt pupae usually hang horizontally on branches.
This male has successfully completed development and is starting an exciting butterfly summer.
The animals overwinter as the only Central European butterfly species without protection as imago freely in the vegetation. (This picture was taken on Dec. 16.)
In early spring the brimstone is active again.
Then on warm days in March the butterflies mate. And the cycle starts all over again (The males are intensely lemon yellow, the females are pale greenish-white in color).
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