Butterflies

Browse through our guide to butterfly fauna in the Canary Islands for more information on the endemic species found here.

Small White

The Small White - also known as the Small Cabbage White - is a small to mid-sized butterfly. The upperside is creamy white with black tips to the forewings. Females also have two black spots in the center of the forewings. Its underwings are yellowish with black speckles. It is sometimes mistaken for a moth due to its plain-looking appearance.

Bath White

The Bath White is a small white butterfly. The underside of the hindwing has a pattern of greenish blotches. Sexes can be differentiated by markings on the forewing. The male is differentiated from the female by the markings on the upperside. The apex of the forewing is black with white spots and lines. There is a black spot at the end of the cell. In the case of the female there is an obscure row of terminal and marginal spots on the upper hindwing.

African Migrant

The African migrant has only recently colonised in the Canary Islands. It prefers imported shrubs and so you are more likely to see it in man made resorts and gardens than anywhere else. They don't settle often. There is a wide variety of colour variation from white through to strong yellow.

Cleopatra

Often the first Butterfly to be seen after the winter. The female is paler, but still with the leaf shaped wing. In Europe there are two other species, the Gonepteryx Cleopatra with its orange colouration and the Powdered Brimstone with two colour wings.

Indian Red Admiral

The Indian Red Admiral is a close relative of the Painted Lady. A medium sized dark gray brown butterfly with a reddish orange and white markings. The underside has a blotched appearance with many shades and patterns of brown and gray. This is an active butterfly that may be seen day after day in the same location. It rests with its wings open to varying degrees and has the habit of opening and closing them frequently.

Painted Lady

The Painted Lady's upperside of the wings is orange-brown with darker wing bases. The forewing has a black patch and white bar on leading edge, and the hindwing has a row of 5 small black spots and sometimes has blue scales. The underside has a black, brown, and gray pattern with 4 small eyespots. Males perch and patrol during the afternoon for females that are ready to mate.

Queen of Spain

The Queen of Spain fritillary is a butterfly of hot, dusty paths and sandy wasteland. The main identifiable feature which separates the Queen of Spain Fritillary from all other fritillaries are the unique, large silvery/opalescent patches on the undersides of its hind wings. The main plants on which they feed are the wild pansy and the field pansy.

Canary Speckled Wood

The Canary Speckled Wood is native to the islands and easy to identify, having a straight outer margin to the forewing, a white wedge on the underside of the hindwing and being the only species of to occur in the Canary Islands. The larvae feed on grass, and are well camouflaged to aid their survival. When ready to pupate the larva hangs onto a lower frond of the plant, pupates, and then is easily dislodged and so ends up camouflaged brown against the dry earth and leaf litter below.

Monarch Danaus

The Monarch Danaus has a black body with white spots and bright orange wings with black borders and veins, their bright coloration serves as a warning to potential vertebrate predators. Female monarchs lay their eggs on the milkweed plant. The eggs hatch and small catepillars emerge. These catepillars feed on the milkweed before suspeding itself on the underside of a leaf or branch and forming a crysalis. After about two weeks, a mature monarch emerges from the crysalis.