Orange-tip lifecycle video

[Vince Massimo]

Another lovely production by Filming VarWild (with thanks to Roger Gibbons for flagging it up). Published on 6th February 2019.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=601Z2Bgrq44

Vince

[PhilBJohnson]

Species Movie Critique. I viewed in January 2020
"The Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines L.)" by Filming Varwild 2019

https://youtu.be/601Z2Bgrq44 (appeared to me to be the same video, possibly a slightly different link).

I thought this was a really good example of a "Species video" and should be viewed by all who those who are seriously interested in this butterfly & it's Life Cycle.
Good clips and presentation of the immature stages. Could they have used the universal word "Instar, more" ?
What might have been lacking (and possibly could be added later) was:
1. Really good female egg laying clips with her abdomen clearly bent over to deposit the egg.
2.A change of flight pattern. The flight of the female was more "fluttery", when ovipositing.
3. Possible human interactions which could dramatically affect their habitat and life cycle, like for example, grass mowing management.
4. Clear female rejection behaviour (with raised abdomen), after she had been mated.
5. An explanation of the adult butterflies life expectancy (age).
6. Predation at all life cycle stages.
7. How the species was affected by climate change.
8. Graphs, charts, maps of the butterflies existence range (with insight from someone with knowledge)
9. Interviews with people who had species expertise.
10. More seasonal footage (The butterfly over-summers and over-winters as a pupa, needing normally, to stay intact with a plant stem it pupated on, avoiding a garden tidy up
11. A really good narrator (like Sir David Attenborough, for example)
I thought that UK Butterflies could produce something better than the French productions and more specifically for the UK, for each individual species in the United kingdom. in exploring a greater depth in detail, i thought that more sub-species or genetic variations in habitat needs, might be found. In the UK, in many locations, the primary food source for the Orange Tip caterpillar was Garlic Mustard.
A hope for the future.
On UK Butterflies, we had a way of sharing videos or video clips via a youtube link, but in a future, people might be able to submit a raw clip (or footage) and photos to be possibly used in and collated, as a part of a detailed species study, not yet seen, even on the BBC!
I was told that it would be a huge undertaking and I understand, it might have to involve, many different peoples best efforts.

Kind Regards

[PhilBJohnson]

Specifically one stage, I wanted recorded in video, in more detail, more often, was:
about 14:41 into this above video:

“Finding a favourable place” (5th instar).

My observation (that wasn't video recorded), was to do with how the 5th instar larva, generally, naturally attached, the base of it's abdomen, so that it stayed fixed in position, for about 10 months! Some plant growth, might have got more "woody" in that time, during a tree's winter dormant period.

One of my pictures here clearly showed that the silk at the base of the abdomen, was wrapped repeatedly around the 3-4mm diameter "woody" twig that it chose, to overwinter successfully for about 10 months. If larvae generally behaved like this, it might determine the diameter of "woody" twig they used, to get the silk, all the way around!
The point of a "species video" to be presented in more detail, was that, so more people could almost fully understand, how to help this species in our futures.

Orange-tip pupa with silk wrapped around base of abdomen and 3-4mm diameter "woody" twig

Kind Regards