Caterpillars of the Large White, Netherlands
One of the most widespread butterflies in the Netherlands. These are the caterpillars of this species, which go through 4 stages, this photo showing stage 3 or 4, based on size. They are voracious as caterpillars and strongly poisonous to any potential predator. In agriculture, they are considered a plague, which explains the dutch name "cabbage white".
These were captured in my "macro garden", which is a tiny patch in our garden where I plant wild flowers and just let nature figure out the rest. It brings me joy to know several whites were born in our garden.
The large white, "Pieris brassicae", also called cabbage butterfly, cabbage white, or in India the large cabbage white. White cabbage butterfly is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. The large white is a close relative to the small white, "Pieris rapae".
