Species: Marbled White (Melanargia galathea)
Family: Fritillaries, Nymphalids and Browns (NYMPHALIDAE)
Category: Butterflies & Moths
Location: Widespread
A. Butterflies & Moths
B. Fritillaries, Nymphalids and Browns (NYMPHALIDAE)
This is a large family containing many of our most colourful and familiar butterflies. Many are strong fliers, with a flapping flight interspersed with glides and swoops. The Fritillaries are predominantly orange with dark markings, and the Browns largely brown, but the Nymphalids have a range of colours.
C. Marbled White (Melanargia galathea)
The black and white colouring of the Marbled White is distinctive. The brighter undersides of the wings are usually folded closed when the insect is feeding, like filigree netting that has a series of small eyes suspended in it. The darker, upper wing surfaces are therefore more tricky to catch a good sight of but, when you can, what you see could be brushwork from a painter's monochrome palette. These patterns pass in a blur because the Marbled White is fast, fluttering back and forth, searching out the best blooms, constantly evading you. Persistence is needed - and is rewarded, as the photographs here show.
Male Marbled Whites have these more pronounced monochrome colouration. Females are creamier or even sandy.
These butterflies are in the air from mid-June to mid-August and are a quintessential ingredient of a summer walk on the South Downs.
Larvae feed on Red Fescue grass, whilst more mature caterpillars feed on Sheep's Fescue, Cock's-foot, Tor-grass and Yorkshire Fog. In spite of the abundance of these grasses in the Cemetery, 2022 is the first year when the Marbled White has been spotted there. In June 2022, their numbers have been quite considerable.
Images
Marbled White
Male Marbled White have these more pronounced monochrome colouration. Females are creamier or even sandy. This photograph shows a male.
(Photo credit: Sue Standing.)
Marbled White
These butterflies are in the air from mid-June to mid-August and are a quintessential ingredient of a summer walk on the South Downs.
