Belenois java
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
Belenois java, the caper white or common white, is a small butterfly of the family Pieridae found in Australia, Indonesia, and Melanesia. It is highly migratory and is often confused with the cabbage white (Pieris rapae).
The upper surface of the male's wings are white with a broad black apical patch, the hindwing has a black terminal border. On both wings the black area encloses white dots. The under surface of the hindwing is almost exclusively black except for white and yellow patches between the veins. The wingspan on the male is 5 cm whereas the female's wingspan is larger at 6 cm. The female can vary dramatically including a pale form which looks strikingly similar to the male. The upper surface of the wings is white and have a much broader black margin. The body of both is olive green to dark brown.
The first instar of this species is pale yellow sparsely covered in long hairs. The later instars of this species are dark brownish-green with white and yellow raised spots. The head has a V-shaped white mark and is shiny black. There are two lines of hair on the side of the caterpillar's 3-cm body in its later stages. The pupa is white... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grampians National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Bali Barat National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 3 | Cape Range | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Komodo National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 5 | Ningaloo Marine Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 6 | Blue Mountains National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 7 | Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 8 | Lamington National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 9 | Great Otway National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 10 | Kosciuszko National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 11 | Springbrook National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 12 | Royal National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Caper White sighting in Melbourne on a given day, based on 252 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 66th most-seen of the 875 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Caper White in Melbourne on a given day, against under 5% in December to August, the lowest months.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Caper White sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 4 cities where we can rate Caper White sightings, Melbourne ranks 3rd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Brisbane (Australia, about 10%) and Denpasar (Indonesia, about 10%).
Same family: Pieridae
The closest relatives of the Caper White that you can see in Melbourne (family Pieridae, Whites, Yellows, and Sulphurs) are Small White (about 30%) and Imperial Jezebel (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Caper White is recorded against all the insects logged in Melbourne (252 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
