Butterfly dawn or aurora belong to the family of whites. The scientific name of this insect is the core dawn.
There are several subspecies. They are all active during the day. The life of these insects is firmly connected with the core of the meadow - a plant on which butterflies lay their eggs. Caterpillars of these butterflies live on it and feast on leaves.
Habitat
The dawn butterfly is common throughout Europe. It can be found in the warm, non-tropical regions of Asia.
These creatures prefer a subtropical climate, avoid too hot places and too cold areas. However, if there is water nearby, then they can live even in the desert. Butterfly settles in open areas, in fields, on the edges of forests, in meadows.
It has been established that males can travel considerable distances by flying over desert areas in search of food or a girlfriend.
Appearance
The description of the dawn butterfly will help to imagine how these creatures look. The size of the wings is average, up to 48 mm. On the chest and head of males there are gray-yellow hairs. Females have dark gray hairs.
You can distinguish a male from a female by the color of the front wing. In males, the tips of the wings are orange-yellow, in females - white. Hind wings are pearl white.
Aurora caterpillar is bluish-green speckled.
Lifestyle & Nutrition
The butterfly dawn can be seen from March to mid-summer. The age of this creature is short-lived, the butterfly lives only a couple of weeks. The appearance time depends on the climatic zone, average monthly temperature and humidity.
Butterflies of this species are not pests; they feed on fodder plants. For this reason, gardeners do not organize any measures to combat Aurora. The diet also includes nectar, pollen of flowers.
Caterpillars eat leaves and young seeds.
Females live in the same area throughout life. In the spring in some regions you can see just a huge number of these white-yellow beauties.