Limenitis camilla

White Admiral (Limenitis camilla)

2024 photographs highlighted in yellow. Click on any photograph to go to an enlarged picture, or simply scroll down the page.


37538_male_Côte-d'Or_11Jun15	37599_male_Côte-d'Or_12Jun15	41265_male_Isère_11Jul16	43249_male_Rhône_03Jun17

45402_male_Isère_9Jul18	45408_male_Isère_9Jul18	52896_male_Isère_10Jul24	05_20-22_female?_Herts, UK_9Jul05

45414_male_Isère_9Jul18	05_20-12_female?_Herts, UK_14Jul05

A majestic glider, very attractive when fresh. Quite common in central and northern France and in several places I have seen several at one time.

It seems to be a species that shows very little variation in its markings and its pose (of the males) almost always with fully open wings, so the images on this page show a remarkable similarity.

It does not seem to occur (except for a few isolated records) in the far south-east region of PACA, where the Southern White Admiral (L. reducta) is common.

The OPIE Atlas shows a complete absence of records in Var and only six records ever from the Alpes-Maritimes, although there were two sightings in the western Alpes-Maritimes in late June 2015, in areas where it appears that no prior records existed. The CEN-PACA Atlas shows more records in the Alpes-Maritimes although most of these are in the north of the département, and only one in Var, also in the far north.

ref	sex	observations	alt. m
37538	M	a particularly dark male, almost completely black, save for the white markings.	430
37599	M	a rather more normal male, although I get to see camilla only infrequently because it is very sporadic in south-eastern France. It is slightly browner in tone and has vestigial rust-coloured marks in several places.	370
41265	M	a very fresh camilla taking salts on the ground. I particularly like the ghosted blacker marks in the submarginal areas of the hindwing. This one was one of several puddling at this spot.	1120
43249	M	a male, easy to photograph on the ground, but 43249 is a little pale and showing some signs of wear, so it does not show up the contrast to best effect.	180
45402	M	another male on the ground taking salts. It is surprising how little variation there is between males even at the same location. Contrast this with the variation between the three Purple Emperors (Apatura iris) seen in 2018 at this same site.	1120
45408	M	a male, at last a photograph of a male that is not on the ground. 45414 is the underside.	1120
52896	M		920
05_20-22	F	a female, I suspect, from the body shape and length, as the sexes are virtually identical.
45414	M	a rare (for me) opportunity to get an underside shot, and a very fresh specimen it is, too. 45408 is the upperside.	1120
05_20-12	F	the underside of 05_20-22.