Nick Broomer

[Pete Eeles]

Nice analysis, Neil!

At 100/1, I've got a lot more courtship displays to see before I witness a pairing! From "Heterospecific courtship, minority effects and niche separation between cryptic butterfly species" (where Adrian may have read about the lack of rejection behaviour):

"Females do not perform any rejection behaviours, but on rare occasions, females try to escape an unwanted courtship by taking off in an ascending flight. This behaviour only rarely pays-off, because most often the male has no problem to follow the female. The long-lasting male courtships have been proposed to impose time costs both on males and females, but the alternative female strategy, to accept mating to avoid the long-lasting courtship, would be even more costly, as the average mating lasts for over an hour, and if the male is recently mated, the time in copula can exceed 10 hours."

Cheers,

- Pete

[Nick Broomer]

Thanks for the input, appreciated. But female Wood Whites do have a rejection signal, rarely seen, but i have witnessed this behaviour and photographed/captured this on film so maybe you should, rethink your opinions on the mating rituals of this butterfly.

All the best, Nick.

[Nick Broomer]

An insight into the life of Chiddingfold Wood's Wood White..

Part five...Wood Whites egg laying

The females lay their eggs either in full sun or part sun/shade but never full shade, and can be found along the woodland rides and in small open pockets of grassland within the woods. The ovum are laid singly,

normally one egg per plant, on rare occasions two can be found side by side on the same leaf.

These two ovum are so fresh that they have not yet dried and turned the colour of off white.

The 1st brood females ovum can be laid anywhere from 50mm [2inches] off the ground to about 450mm [18inches]. Whilst the 2nd brood normally lay their ovum from 150mm [6inches] above ground level to over 1.2metres.

There are two small pieces of blue tape attached to the vegetation, just over half way up the centre of the photo, just above these pieces of tape are where two Wood White ovum have been laid, the one on the left is over 1.2 metres high. It looks quite condensed in there, but there is plenty of air space for the sun to penetrate and, to warm the egg.

This female Wood White is just about to oviposit the first of the two ovum laid within the shrub.

And here is the deposited ovum. It was this ovum that turned orange and produced the orange larva. the other egg was lost to predation.

Selected plants for egg laying are always singular, not on vast clumps of the larval food plant like Bird's-foot Trefoil.

The three most commonly chosen plants for egg laying by both broods over all, were, 1st, Bird's-foot Trefoil, 2nd, Bitter Vetch and 3rd, Meadow Vetchling. All eggs were laid in the open, not in amongst thick vegetation. If the ovum were laid where the vegetation was thick , then the selected laval plant would be at least 150mm [6inches] above the surrounding Flora. Some eggs that were found high up [over 900mm, 3feet] were normally on bird's-foot Trefoil, fighting for light in amongst a bush.

The ovum when first laid are an off white in colour, turning yellow after about five days, then reverting to white again before hatching after 10/11 days and producing a white larva. On the very rare occasion the ovum turns orange in colour after about five days and, stays this colour until the larva emerges which is also orange.

To be continued...

[David M]

This is absolutely fascinating stuff, Nick, and superbly photographed too.

Your patience and commitment are admirable.

[Maximus]

Hi Nick, the story of the Wood White's life cycle is unfolding nicely and is also beautifully illustrated by your excellent photos.

Mike

[Wurzel]

Fantastic stuff Nick What is the evolutionary significance of the orange larva I'm wondering?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Nick Broomer]

Hi David, Mike and Wurzel,

thank you again, for your kind comments. Appreciated as always.

Wurzel, to answer your question. I haven't a clue, as it is the only orange ovum i have seen, could be the only one ever seen. Obviously more research needs to be done involving the Wood White.

All the best, Nick.

[Nick Broomer]

An insight into the life of Chiddingfold Wood's Wood White..

Part six...Studying the courtship ritual of the Wood White

So this is the courtship of the Wood White,

which is very rarely seen with the conclusion of copulation in the field [something i have yet to observe]. So how does this courtship relate to the act of mating or, as in some cases does not appear to have any bearing on the act of copulation. These are my own observations in the field on mating and the courtship ritual. When i have observed the joining of the male and female Wood White, the female has always been sitting on some form of vegetation in the sun, and not well hidden. The females will sit waiting, anywhere from 3/4 of an hour [the longest i've witnessed this] to just a few seconds. Whilst waiting the female [i believe, will release a body scent] indicating to any passing male that she is ready for mating. When eventually a male flies close enough, the male will firstly smell the female, then fly down to investigate and, join without any courtship.This joining of the male and female in copulation, i have observed on half a dozen occasions and not once was there any sign of a courtship.

Now when a courtship does take place it has always been with a female that seems to have always been mated before, [from my own observations and photographs]. A male will seek out a female [high percentage of the time flying, rarely sitting] confronting her, the female will try to escape the males advances by taking flight, and the chase is on. The male in hot pursuit is directly behind her, the male has already got his proboscis out, aiming it in the direction of the female but, without actually touching her. The female eventually lands on the ground [in this instance], where wing flapping by the female takes place,

while the male flies around her throwing his proboscis out in front of him towards the female [you can see the shadow of the males proboscis on the females opened wings].

The female eventually flies off again

[this is the same female and male in these five photos] with the male right behind. The female is forced to land again and,

this time the male lands opposite her and starts what we are familiar with seeing, the domineering male hitting the submissive female on the side of her closed wings with his proboscis, [normally the hindwing] this stimulates the dominate and the submissive to open and close their wings, [the more accurate the dominate male is with the hitting of the submissive's wings the more she opens them, the male can be pretty inaccurate with his proboscis, missing it's target over and over again, so less of the wing flapping by both the dominate male and, the submissive] usually the male will chase the female down, sometimes landing on open vegetation,

[as indicated in this photo] but more often than not, down in thick vegetation where it is difficult to observe the courtship

and, is why it is easily missed.

After the dominate male connects with the side of the submissive female's wings with his proboscis

the submissive female is stimulated into opening her wings and, then the dominate male with an accurate thrust of his proboscis, hits the flat of the opened forewing.

This courtship as seen in the above photos has never ended with mating, as i believe the females have already been mated. These photos also indicate what i believe the dominate males are always trying to achieve with their proboscis, even though some of them are pretty amateurish at this act of using their proboscis correctly and to good affect.

To be continued...

[David M]

Magnificent observations trumped only by your supporting images, Nick.

You really have invested a huge amount of time studying this butterfly.

[Nick Broomer]

Hi David,

Thank you very much, for your sincere and generous comments on my observations on the Wood White. Its taken me five years so far [in both poor and good weather] and, i'm sure there is a lot more to be learnt about the Wood White. In my opinion, there needs to be a lot more research done into it's life and the secrets it holds.

All the best, Nick.

[Wurzel]

More fascinating stuff Nick - your documentation is brilliant and just what this threatened species needs

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Nick Broomer]

Hi Wurzel,

thank you for your very kind comments. Appreciated as always.

All the best, Nick.

[Nick Broomer]

An insight into the life of Chiddingfold Wood's Wood White..

Part seven...Male on male performing the courtship ritual

We all know that male butterflies spend most of their lives looking for females in which to copulate with, and that, quite a lot of the time get rather confused when it comes to differentiating between a male and a female, whether they are of the same species or one thats similar to themselves but not one of the same species. Freshly emerged males can produce a body scent similar to that of a female,[male Orange-tips, and Chalkhill Blues are two such butterflies that come to mind that produce this body scent] but once the said butterfly has been investigated and, the male has realised his embarrassing mistake, he moves on and goes in pursuit of another butterfly. So why is it, that when two male Wood Whites come together, it is not always a mistake, whoops another male, time to go. But no, for some reason or another they do not always go their separate ways, but start to throw their proboscis at each other like these two males deep down in the vegetation,

until one of them becomes the dominate male, and the other becomes the submissive male. They then go on to produce what looks like to me, the courtship ritual of a male dominate and a female submissive with only the dominate male now using his proboscis.

With the dominate role being won by the male Wood White on the right, the male on the left taking the roll of the submissive. The dominate male proceeds with hitting the submissive male opposite, on the side of the wings with his proboscis,

[or at least is attempting to, but misses a lot, with the odd direct hit] stimulating the submissive male into fully opening his wings and,

then the dominate male brings his proboscis down on the opened wings, [exactly as a dominate male and a submissive female would perform in a failed courtship ritual]. On one weekend, i found four pairs of males performing the courtship ritual, all of which were well hidden amongst vegetation.

This ritual of course can not be a courtship ritual, [not performed by two males anyway]and because males can not obversely mate with each other. Even though this ritual carried out by a dominate male and, a submissive male was the same as the courtship ritual performed by a dominate male and a submissive mated female. And we all know that its not a bonding ritual, as insects do not bond, full stop. But after watching/studying wild life ever since i was a very small child, i have come to the conclusion, that nature is totally unpredictable. Never, ever take nature for granted and say this or that can never happen. Nature is always full of surprises and new discoveries are being made all the time, and i believe there is a lot more to learn about our butterflies. All you have to do is go out and look, and keep looking, as people on this forum know that only to well...

[Nick Broomer]

An insight into the life of Chiddingfold Wood's Wood White..

Final part... The female rejection signal

The female Wood White is noted for not having a reject signal to ward off any advances from amorous males, hence all the failed courtships but, this is not always the case. Because if you keep looking, you never know what you will find and, on 9.8.2014 i came across a female which was definitely rebuffing a male.

The male chased down the female who fortunately landed in the open on some Fleabane. To start with there was a lot of jumping about and some wing flapping by both male and female,

the male also using his proboscis trying to woo the female, and take control, the female having none of it, this lasting no more than three seconds. After exactly four seconds the female started to rebuff the male,

by pointing her abdomen skywards, giving out a clear signal of not wanting to mate.

The female Wood White held this position with her abdomen pointing upwards for about twenty seconds, [whilst the male was still trying to court her, but to no avail] a couple of seconds later the female then flew off. The male, never one to give up, gave chase. The female then landed again, the male flew down

to try his luck once more.

The female at this point flew up and away, and this time the male did not go in pursuit of the female, but went his separate way. This event lasted from start to finish, 37 seconds.

[Wurzel]

More fantastic stuff Nick - the detail in your observations puts me to shame I am also so envious of all f the open winged shots that you have, somehtign lacking from my, very small, photo collection for this species

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Nick Broomer]

Hi Wurzel,

Thank you for your over the top comments, but they are really appreciated.

I have spent so much time studying the Wood Whites, its become an obsession. Sooner or later you have got to find what your looking for, as long as its there to be found in the first place, and a bit of luck has to play it's part. I have been fortunate to make three new discoveries associated with the Wood White, [so i believe]. But, if you don't put in the time, you don't get results.

All the best Nick.

[Nick Broomer]

Brimstone ovum are usually laid one to a leaf, normally on a very young leaf, but sometimes a female will deposit an egg on a particular leaf, fly away, come back and lay another egg on the same leaf, the female could repeat this procedure several times. Or more than one female could be depositing ovum on the same leaf just because it is situated in the right position, i.e. in sun, so the ovum can dry easily if exposed to rain, in shaded areas, where the ovum is sheltered from exposure to wind and rain, and gets little or no sun.

There are six ovum on this mature leaf, which were laid quite late in the season, 8th June.

Freshly laid Brimstone ovum on young Buckthorn leaf.

Brimstone ovum having turned a dirty yellow after a few days of being laid.

[Pete Eeles]

There are six ovum on this mature leaf.

More interesting is that they've been laid on the upperside of the leaf!

Cheers,

- Pete

[bugboy]

There are six ovum on this mature leaf.

More interesting is that they've been laid on the upperside of the leaf!

Cheers,

- Pete

The only pics I have of Brimstone eggs are on the upperside as well.

[Nick Broomer]

I thought that the laying of Brimstone ovum on the top of a leaf was common practice, as i have come across this behaviour frequently, [just like Buggy]

All the best, Nick..