''Anthocharis cethura'', the desert orangetip or Felder's orangetip, is a species of

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

in the subfamily

Pierinae The Pierinae are a large subfamily of Pieridae, pierid butterfly, butterflies. The subfamily is one of several clades of butterflies often referred to as the whites. Species It includes the following species (additional species can be found und ...

.''Anthocharis cethura''.
Invertebrate Abstracts. Arizona Game and Fish Department. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it lives on hills and ridges in rocky desert habitat.''Anthocharis cethura''.
Butterflies and Moths of North America. The male and female look similar. The wingspan is between . The wings are yellow with an orange patch toward the front of the forewing outlined in black and white. The edges of the wings are spotted with black. The underside of the hindwing has greenish bands. The adults appear early in the spring. Males congregate in the midday sun to wait for females to emerge, and are more easily observed than females, which are active later in the day. The flight pattern is quick and erratic. The female lays eggs singly on host plants. The conical eggs are blue green when fresh, then turn orange. During early stages 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 ...

is green with a purple stripe outlined in white. In its last

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'' 'form, likeness') is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, which occurs between each moult (''ecdysis'') until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to ...

it is white with mottled markings. The larvae feed mostly on plants of the

mustard family Brassicaceae () or (the older but equally valid) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some ar ...

. They have been noted on lyreleaf jewelflower (''Streptanthus carinatus''), London rocket (''Sisymbrium irio''), western tansymustard (''Descurainia pinnata''), sand fringepod (''Thysanocarpus curvipes''), and California mustard (''Streptanthus lasiophyllus''). There are many subspecies. The subspecies '' A. c. catalina'' is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Santa Catalina Island, California Santa Catalina Island (; ) often shortened to Catalina Island or Catalina, is a rocky island, part of the Channel Islands (California), Channel Islands, off the coast of Southern California in the Gulf of Santa Catalina. The island covers an ...

References

External links

*NatureServe
''Anthocharis cethura''.
NatureServe Explorer. 2014.

cethura Butterflies of North America Butterflies described in 1865 Taxa named by Cajetan von Felder Taxa named by Rudolf Felder Lepidoptera of Mexico Lepidoptera of the United States {{Pieridae-stub