Anthocharis euphenoides subsp andalusica or Morocco Orange Tip

Sunday afternoon while walking down our own dirt track enjoying the last moments of sun, we were lucky to photograph a female ´orange tip´ that we had not seen on our finca before. To find the names of new butterflies we always first consult the online magazine of Waste Ideal. Looking at photographs on this website an flora and fauna in Andalusia, we now think that the one we saw is an Anthocharis euphenoides subsp andalusica, a butterfly in the Pieridae family. Another name is mentioned between brackets: Anthocharis belia euphenoides Staudinger, 1869. The Spanish names given on this website are ´Aurora meridional´ or ´Bandera española´ and the English name ´Moroccan Orange Tip´. It apparantly closely resembles to the Provence Orange Tip (Anthocharis euphenoides). In an article on the Provence (Moroccan) Orange Tip by Matt Rowlings from his website dedicated to European Butterflies, we can read that the Provence Orange Tip has only recently been split from the Moroccan Orange Tip. Of this beautiful species he mentions that it flies from April in one generation and that it mostly is over by the end of May. The Morocco Orange Tip (Anthocharis belia) and the Provence Orange Tip are both said to fly in Spain. We hope to be able to take more pictures soon so that we can learn to distinguish them better.
PS We often see the male Morocco Orange Tip - much smaller and yellow with orange tips - flying around today (the 8th of May) we saw it res for a moment for the first time (see last photograph).







Related links: 
- Guia de Mariposas on the online magazine Waste Ideal

Related key words: familia peridos, familie pieridae, witjes, geel oranjetipje, vlinders, alpujarras, sierra nevada,  bérchules, trektocht, trekking, wandelvakanties, holiday, urlaub, vacances