Currently unavailable. The cleopatra is almost identical in shape and size to our own brimstone, but is more striking due to the presence of bright orange patches that suffuse the male's forewings. My first encounter with this beautiful butterfly occurred from a high vantage point when a male flew across the skyline of Florence in 1993 - a pretty unforgettable sight! The adults are sexually dimorphic in the same way as our brimstone and there is one brood per year, except in Spain where there are two.
Eggs are laid on alder and purging buckthorn and the larvae will do very well in warm and dry conditions. A rare opportunity to see the lifecycle of this striking insect; eggs are available in May and June.
Larval foodplants: buckthorns (rhamnacae).
Rearing: sleeves; plastic boxes.
