He does look painted, doesn’t he? The funny thing is, for a female Jezabel, the glamorous side of this butterfly is not these beautiful undersides to his wings, but the pure white wingtops, which he flashes when he flies.
The grey-topped females find the white very appealing!
With their wings folded, you can’t tell the boys from the girls.
This one, which flew into our garden last week, was looking for a mate.
He would have done better to hang around the bushland, as the girls don’t get too far from the plants where they lay their eggs.
Little caterpillars of every butterfly species can only survive on the correct host plants, and for the glamorous jezabels, mistletoes are it.
They are fairly broad-minded. Any mistletoe from the Loranthaceae family will do.
A good reason for growing one in your garden.
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