Great Orangetip Butterfly – Hebomoia glaucippe

Captive live butterflies photographed at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Chicago IL.

Native to Southeast Asia and Australasia (New Zealand, Australia, New Guinea), the great orangetip butterfly is one of the biggest Pierids, with a wingspan up to 10 cm (4 inches).  These rather shy butterflies hang around along the edges and tracks of tropical rainforests, visiting flowers during the day and hiding in thick vegetation at night.

Great orangetips congregate in damp areas during the heat of the day, after the manner of many other butterflies such as the cabbage white, and various skipper butterflies (below).

These Wild Indigo Duskywing skippers are taking water at a mud puddle.

Butterflies are among the most fascinating and beautiful animals. Even people who care not for insects in general usually have an affection for these winged wonders. They live nearly everywhere — from gardens and forests and mountains to acid bogs and frozen arctic tundra. Almost 700 of the world’s 10 – 20,000 species live in North America north of Mexico.

Order Lepidoptera, which contains both butterflies and moths, includes at least 125,000 known species including 12,000 in North America.

Butterfly Index | Moth Pictures | Moths Index | Skipper Butterflies