This butterfly is fairly common in our region. It is black & white on the upper surface, and yellow-orange, black & white underneath. It is around 50mm in width. It is particularly common west of the Great Dividing Range, but still comes to the coast on occasion

The larvae feed exclusively on plants in the Capparidaceae family, the genus Capparis, and the two most common species that we have in the Noosa Biosphere are C. arborea, [Brush caper berry]  and C. sarmentosa [Scrambling caper]. Both are beautiful, tough plants. I like them even more because they have spines...and small birds commonly nest in the bigger one! [Brush caper].

"The Capers are coming!"

They generally migrate in spring, however I see them most of the year around. They migrate in large numbers, and strangely they have been observed migrating to areas where no caper plants grow....and we don't know why. I have one friend [yes, I do] and he lives in Brookfield west of Brisbane. He and I often observe these butterflies at a very similar time. I'll get a phone call..."the capers are coming", and in a day or two I will see them. The excellent Australian Museum website states that the numbers in migration can be very large... in some cases clogging car radiators! I observed quite a few hanging around my caper bushes only yesterday.

The Larvae will often strip all the leaves of the caper plants...sometimes even some of the bark on younger shoots. You can see nothing but Caper white larvae poo under the tree! When my son was younger I used to take him into the bush and sit quietly under one of the caper bushes...You can actually hear the caterpillars chewing the leaves. This does no noticeable damage to the plant... they just grow back.

I was fortunate enough to get a photograph of a group of butterflies all fluttering around one of my caper bushes last year...

And also I have included a photo of the flower of C. sarmentosa... Beautiful things in our Biosphere: