Cleopatra or Brimstone Portugal (1 Viewer)

Would this a Cleopatra or a Brimstone butterfly? Taken in the Algarve flying in May. Hard for me to tell the difference.

Definite male Cleo, look at all that orange on the forewing, you don't see that on Brimstone, females are trickier.

andyadcock said:

Definite male Cleo, look at all that orange on the forewing, you don't see that on Brimstone, females are trickier.

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Thanks for that Andy. I was hoping it was Cleo. Means a first for me. Thank you again.

John

andyadcock said:

Definite male Cleo, look at all that orange on the forewing, you don't see that on Brimstone, females are trickier.

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.... and often misidentified!

Tse butterfly Cleopatra. The species was described by the Swedish naturalist and Carl Linnaeus in 1767, got its specific name in honour of the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra.

Tyler Parks said:

Tse butterfly Cleopatra. The species was described by the Swedish naturalist and Carl Linnaeus in 1767, got its specific name in honour of the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra.

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Not really, that is a common misinterpretation. Linnaeus not always explained the etymology of his numerous butterfly names, whose etymologies need to be deduced. In 1758 Linnaeus separated all butterflies in 6 "Phalanges", the one where this butterfly was later included (1767) was called "Danai"; the Danai were subsequently split in Danai candidi (the ones with white wings, or similar) and Danai festivi (variegated wings). The names of the Danai candidi were derived from the Danaid nymphs (from Greek mythology), the 50 daughters of Danaus, Cleopatra being one of them.
Atypically, in the specific case of the Danai Linnaeus actually explains that he has given the white Danai (Danaorum Candidorum) the names of the daughters of Danaus and the the coloured (Danaorum Festivorum) the names of the sons of Aegyptus (for those who like Greek mythology there are multiple stories/episodes linking both).
Cleopatra was indeed also the name of the Egyptian queen (who was of Greek ancestry), but the 1767 name from Linnaeus evidently does not honour her.
Cheers

Wow ... multitudes of information! ... thank you for that. :t:

I can just add that Brimstone is a rare to very rare species in the Algarve, and in fact it's a species with a very localized distribution south of the Tagus; the OP photo is unmistakably a male Cleopatra.