Caper White Butterfly

Alice Springs Desert Park

ASDP Butterflies & MothsBanksia Moth – Caterpillar Caper White Butterfly Chequered Swallowtail (Papilio demoleus ssp sthenelus) Day Flying Moth / Mistletoe Moth Heliotrope Moth (Utetheisa pulchelloides) Noctuinae (Caterpillar) Processionary Caterpillar

A number of different species of butterflies are often seen flying around the desert park including the Caper White Butterfly (Belenois java teutonia).

The best place to find the Caper White Butterflies are around the plants of the caper family (Capparis spp). These include the Wild Passionfruit, also known as the Caper Bush (Capparis spinosa var. nummularia) and the Australian Native Orange (Capparis mitchellii). They can be seen laying their eggs on the host plants.

The caper plants that are hosts to the developing caterpillars grow through different instar stages. You can often see the cases of the instar, and then the developing chrysalis to emerge as the butterfly.

Check out our Fauna section on the Caper White Butterfly (Belenois java teutonia).

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Pieridae
Genus: Belenois
Species: B. java
Binomial name: Belenois java
Subspecies:
- B. j. java (Indonesia)
- B. j. savuana (Savu)
- B. j. teutonia (Australia)
- B. j. ina (Indonesia)
- B. j. peristhene (Melanesia)
- B. j. picata (Melanesia)
- B. j. micronesia (Fiji)

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