Scarlet Jezebel

Description:

Delias argenthona is one of my favouriate butterflies but they are not often seen here in Brisbane. I have never encountered a live one in the past, until this summer. My friend is a butterfly expert and he often goes to a park to catch butterflies. There are some mistletoe growing on the gumtrees there and he has been checking them for years without seeing any Jezebel butterfly pupae or eggs. A few weeks ago, out of the blue, Delias argenthona eggs appeared on one of those mistletoe. When I was informed about his finding, I couldn't contain my excitment and grabbed my camera and went with him straight away. My friend has been breeding butterflies for more than 16 years. He told me, based on his past experience, the larvae of this butterfly won't grow very well on the cuttings and best way to raise them is to put them on the live plant. So we put a sleeve around the mistletoe leaves in order to protect them from wasps and flies. A few weeks later when we returned, we found the larvae were doing very well and some of them already pupated. Shortly after that, the adults emerged. They are so incredibly beautiful!