Filming VarWild: Charaxes jasius

The Two-tailed Pasha is one of the largest butterflies of Europe with its 10cm wing-span. Males and females look alike, although the male is smaller. This magnificent butterfly has conquers the Mediterranean basin, in the Maquis, the Garrigue and along the edges of woods rich in strawberry trees. It is rare in the spring but it is quite abundant in late summer. It flies in 2 generations between May and July and between August and the end of October. The butterfly feeds on over-ripened fruit as well as saps leaking from wounded trees. It lays single eggs on its unique host plant the Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo). The second generation caterpillars hibernate and do not have a diapause.
In the hills, at the limits of their distribution, around 500m, they risk not to survive the cold winters with periods of frost and snow, but those hibernating close to the coast have a bigger chance to survive.