The Tailed Sulphur Butterfly (Dercas verhuelli) is a small-to-medium sized insect in the Pieridae family of yellow and white butterflies.

The Tailed Sulphur Butterfly has yellow wings tipped in the top corner with a brown-black patch. From the black patch is a faint streak of orange-brown, with an orange-brown blotch on the forewings (front wings). Its body is yellowish with short antennae. Its hindwings (back wings) look as if they have been cut short with scissors.

Tailed Sulphur Butterfly

It measures about 2.5 centimetres (1 inch), with a wingspan of about 5 centimetres (2 inches).

The Tailed Sulphur Butterfly is native to Asia, in countries such as Myanmar (Burma), India, China, and Indo-China (Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos). It likes open woods and gardens.

The adult butterfly lays eggs. The eggs hatch into hairy caterpillars (the larvae stage). The caterpillars feed on leaves. It then pupates inside a case, or casing, called a chrysalis. After metamorphosis, adult butterflies emerge from the chrysalis.

Tailed Sulphur Butterfly

Photographer: Martina Nicolls

Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM