Butterfly facts and information on Tropical Butterflies of the Amazon - Butterfly Guy Ben

Heliconius atthis, the False Zebra Longwing butterfly

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 23:36:00 +0000

A friend and fan of Ben the Butterfly Guy posted a picture of a butterfly on the Facebook page asking if I knew which species it was. At first I thought it was the Zebra Longwing, but it just didn't seem quite right. Also noting that with Heliconius mimicry, jumping to quick assumptions can lead to mis-identification. I have to admit I'd forgot about this task until she wrote me again informing me that it was the Heliconius atthis. I wanted to look a little more into this and turns out that this butterfly is commonly known as the False Zebrawing given the resemblence.

This species of Heliconius can only be found in West Ecuador. Originally described by Brown in 1979, this species is different than the actual Zebra longwing where the patterns and stripes on the Atthis do not stretch completely across in an unbroken smooth line like the Charitonia species.

Like many Neotropical Heliconius in S. America their host plant is the Passiflora Granadilla or Maracuya de monte as known in Peru. Females are known to mate multiply, this is where they will mate with and accept spermatophores from several male butterflies to increase successful fertilization of all their eggs. Another benefit of mate multiply traits in females is the ability to trade up mates when trying to obtain the best genes for the best offspring. As adults, they roost between 2 and 10 meters off the ground.

Painted Beauty Batesia hypochlora Butterfly Facts and Info

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 02:36:00 +0000

Frontside

The Batesia hypochlora butterfly is commonly known as the Painted Beauty and rightly so. This is one of the most beautiful butterflies in the upper Amazon basin, found from central Colombia to eastern Ecuador, southeast Peru, western Brazil and northeast Bolivia. First described by Austrian father / son duo Felder and Felder in 1862 and currently are Nymphalidae (brush footed butterfly) classified in the Ageroniini tribe, under the Biblidinae subfamily. There is only one species of Batesia genus, the hypochlora and there are several forms of hypochlora that have been described.

Backside

They are pretty solitary for the most part, almost always encountered by themselves hanging out, soaking up sun with their wings spread apart. When disturbed they fly up high into the forest canopy but come back to their original spot soon after.

In 2002 it was found that Ryan Hill, Carla Penz and Mr. Devries published a study with some very interesting results that found the Panacea butterflies were much closer related than originally thought. They share Caryodendron (Euphorbiaceae) as hostplants and their immature stages are similar. Based on conclusive studies it was found that they were monophyletic sister taxa, much closer than originally thought and they both came from a shared ancestor.

Chytridiomycosis - A fungus that has killed off over 200 species of frogs and growing

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 18:09:00 +0000

In the past 30 years, over 200 species of frogs have disappeared or become extinct because of a highly contagious fungus called Chytridiomycosis. I had first read about this horrible, frog killing plague on a flight to Peru 2 years ago in one of those American Airlines magazines and was totally blown away. Well, two years later there still is no cure and this has come to affect 30% of amphibians, killing 80% of frogs that become infected. Why should we care? Well besides the fact that every species in the eco-chain plays a role in the delicate checks and balance systems that keeps our eco-systems healthy, frogs are an immense source of medicinal antibiotics and drugs with an ever growing plethora of knowledge waiting to be discovered in the pharmaceutical field.

Infected frog

The Chytridiomycosis fungus was first discovered to be killing off frogs in 1993, in Queensland and soon noted to be spread to every continent except Antarctica, with origins reaching back 15 years before since 1978. The exact cause is still unknown, some scientists say it's a naturally occurring problem that just one day began effecting frogs. However, in 2004 a study was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluding a species of South African frog known as Xenopus laevis carried the Chytridiomycosis via it's aquatic fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd)fungus, with immunity to it's suffocating effects.

Xenopus laevis

This frog became a live international export in the 30's as a live pregnancy test. You read right. Back before your modern day, pissing sticks, people used to inject human female urine into frogs to see if they were pregnant. If the frog produced eggs within 24 hours, congratulations, you're not only screwed up for injecting pee into a frog, but you're also pregnant. This was because the hCg hormone found in human placenta would signal the unfortunate frog to produce eggs. As these frogs were then released into new, non-native habitats, the fungus began to spread in a viral way through the moisture in the mist and water in the streams, infecting frog species that didn't have a natural immunity to this fungus, covering their skin and suffocating them.

The way this cruel fungus spreads through zoospores that stretch out a slimy arm to expand it's reach. Once this slimy arm grasps onto a new portion of "skin" creating a hub called a sporangium. There the sporangium matures producing more zoospores and beginning the process all over again. Amphibians breathe through their skin and as this fungus spreads across their skin it suffocates them until they choke to death, spread out as if their skin was gasping for air like this poor thing...

There still is no cure, or effective way to combat this epidemic. There are theories and findings that suggest ways to treat this plague, but nothing solid.

Contact info...

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 03:33:00 +0000

Emails: Ben@Benthebutterflyguy.com or Bennybolet@yahoo.com
Facebook: Bennybolet

Red and Blue Agrias claudina sardanapalus Butterfly Facts and Info

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:40:00 +0000

A few days ago I wrote about a gem in the Amazon known as the pink glasswing butterfly, Cithaerias pireta. Today I thought I’d write a little bit over another one of those incredible butterflies that astonishes many visitors to the Amazon rainforest, the phenomenal Agrias claudina sardanapalus butterfly...

Click on the image to order

Commonly known as Godart’s butterfly, after the person who first described this species in a published work in 1824. They are members of the Preponini tribe of the Nymphalidae family, cousin to the Preponas. The Agrias claudina has countless different forms described by entomologists and collectors alike. They are highly sought and this has attributed to their rise in value and a mess of disorganized information on what’s a true new form and what’s not.

They inhabit Neotropic zones in Ecuador, Peru Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia and Brazil between 200 and 600 M. The Agrias claudina sardanapalus are rarely spotted in the wild unless you have a trap with some bait, mainly because they spend all their time hanging out in the upper canopies of the rainforest. They are attracted to rotting fruit, fish and carrion (fancy word for mammal waste). The A. c. sardanapalus also only comes out under very warm conditions in the morning.

Agrias sardanapalus female

Females oviposit on the leaves of Erythroxylaceae family of coca family of flowering plants, laying a one by one smooth globlular shapes, up to a hundred at a time. Once they hatch they become nocturnal eating machines and lazily sleeping during the day. The caterpillars are olive brown, thick and have twisted caudal tails toward the posterior. One unique characteristic about the males are the patches of yellow androconial hairs where their lower wings meet their body. These lift up when in pursuit of a female mate spraying out pheromones in her direction.

The Agrias claudina sardanapalus is under the Brazilian Red list meaning export from Brazil is restricted. The reason for this is because of a threat to the species caused by habitat loss and deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.

Transparent Pink Glasswing Butterfly, Cithaerias pireta (Blushing Phantom)

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:45:00 +0000

The pink glasswing butterfly, Cithaerias pireta, a.k.a. the blushing phantom is an incredible creature. The Amazon rainforest is a place with many exotic, living gems and treasures of all colors. Among these mysteries we find a group of special group of butterflies that deserve a proper introduction. Imagine yourself walking through Amazon rainforest on a hot, humid day. The sun pouring overhead but you don’t mind because you’ve got a natural green canopy for your shade umbrella. You see a few fallen trees have made a clearing for the suns rays to invade a patch of ground, having created a lush patch of a little extra greenery on the Amazon floor. There’s something floating around from low-lying shrub to low-lying shrub, there’s something curiously odd about this creature so you move in for a better look. The sun hits you right in the face as you step into the clearing and for a few seconds, this creature seems to be a wingless bugs flying with two pink spots floating on either side. Your eyes adjust to the sun and you focus on this insect and turns out that it’s a butterfly with almost completely transparent wings was it not for a bright, hot pink spot on the bottom of each as if they were dipped in a pink ink. ALAS!! You’ve discovered the pink glasswing butterfly, Cithaerias pireta, well not really, this species was originally discovered by Stoll in 1780.

Click on the Images to see many more glasswing butterflies

The C. pireta otherwise known as the Blushing Phantom, shares the Cithaerias genus with four other species; andromeda, phantoma, pireta, pyritosa and pyropina. Heading up the levels of the taxonomic branches they are from the Haeterini tribe, from the Satyrinae subfamily of the Nymphalidae family of butterflies. Cithaerias pireta can be found from Mexico to Bolivia, but when it comes to forms they are region specific…

C. p. pireta – Mexico – Colombia, Ecuador

C. p. aurorina (C. merolina) – Colombia, Brazil (Amazonas)

C. p. aura – Brazil (Amazonas, Acre)

C. p. aurora – Peru

C. p. magdalenensis – Colombia

C. p. tambopata – Peru

The reason why their wings are transparent and unique is because they do not have any scales except for a few pink ones on the lower curves of their bottom wings. As larvae they feed on low lying grass called Monocotyledons, some plants that belong to this family are all true grains (rice, wheat, maize, etc…), sugar cane, bamboo, etc… They are loners for the most part, usually found one at a time on fluttering from grass blade to grass blade. They only come out when the shadows of the trees create long overcast shadows at dawn and dusk. They fly low to the ground, usually looking for damp spots, rotting palm fruits or fluids from decomposing fungus.

88 Butterfly Diaethria clymena, Larval Caterpillar stage (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 00:15:00 +0000

The 88 butterfly, Diaethria clymena (C. Felder 1862) is known for the distinctive 88 patterns on the underside of their wings. This trait has made them uniquely renown among butterfly circles and communities, but, as with every butterfly, their lives as these winged insects is only a small final chapter in comparison to the rest of their story.

When the female D. clymena’s are flying through the tropical forests looking for places to oviposit their eggs, they are in search of the Trema micrantha. The eggs are laid singly on the lower leaf near the petiole. Their first meal is their egg shell, then moves to the leaf edges eating all but the central vein. They make a frass chain to rest on along these veins to rest when not eating the T. micrantha.

This host plant is different than the shared Sapindaceae plants of the other Callicorinea tribe member. A few interesting notes on the Trema micrantha is that they are ever green trees closely related to hackberries, however, recent genetic analysis shows that they are best placed in the hemp family of cannabaceae 8-} Their leaves are also a good candidate for alternative and/or complimentary medicines in the management of diabetes since they show beneficial effects on blood glucose levels (Schoenfelder, 2006).

- Immature stages of the butterfly Diaethria clymena janeira (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Biblidinae), Eduardo P. Barbosa, Lucas A. Kaminski & Andre V. L. Freitas, 2010, Sociedade Brasileira de Zoologia

The 88 Butterfly, Diaethria clymena, facts and information (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 23:33:00 +0000

The 88 butterfly (Diaethria clymena) is one many exotic and mysterious butterflies that are considered natural treasures of the sub-tropical Amazon rainforest. They are members of the Callicorini tribe, the Diaethria genus is also the third most diverse genus in the rather extensive Callicorini tribe. The D. clymena was first described by Entomologist Pieter Cramer in 1775. These butterflies are often confused with other Diaethria butterflies such as the 89 butterfly, Diaethria neglecta. Common mistakes are often the result of easily overlooked details in the all to familiar patterns among species in the genus. The only way to tell them apart is through distinguishing the amount of read and spacing in the familiar patterns, kind of like an expert stage of spot the difference. This, I must say, is one of the most difficult parts of identifying butterflies at the species and even more complex form level.

As adults (butterflies) they are particularly fond of rotting fruits and urine soaked, sandy patches along the river edges of secondary forest vegetation. The larval host plants are the Trema’s, which belong to the Ulmaceae family of flowering plants. They are timid creatures, hopping along from patch to patch at the tiniest disturbances. When not in butterfly aggregation spots they can be found in small groups no more than a handful at a time.

A unique characteristic the D. clymena share with the recently discussed Cracker, Hamadryas butterfly is the ability to hear. They have what is known as a Vogel’s organ, a tympanal based auditory instrument (fancy word for ears) that is located at the base of the forewing.

That’s it for part 1, in part 2 I’ll go more into the transformation and life cycle of the Diaethria clymena.

Hamadryas butterfly facts and information; How do these butterflies communicate through sound?

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 23:41:00 +0000

The Hamadryas Butterfly is an extraordinarily unique genus of Neotropical Nymphaliae butterflies with a talent that can only be performed by a very small handful of other Lepidoptera. This talent is the ability to purposefully make a sound, more specifically a bacon-crackling sound. Because of this, the Hamadryas butterflies are referred to as the “Crackers”.

Hamadryas amphinome

It is believed that the noise the Crackers make is caused by two swollen forewing veins that hit one another when the wing is lifted to it’s highest possible position. This isn’t an ambidextrous act and can only be done with one wing. They are short sounds, about a half a second long consisting of two clicks.

Most lepidopterists believe the purpose for this noise is communication among Hamadryas where males are either saying: “Hey, get out of my house punk!” or “What’s up pretty lady, why don’t you flutter my way”. A male Hamadryas will be perched in his tree guarding his area waiting for females to pass by. If another male were to enter this “claimed” area, the perched male will rush down from his position and give chase to the other male, clicking and crackling away at him until the invader is driven off. On the other hand, if a female Hamadryas enters their space, they will also crackle and chase, but it’s more of a courtship than a warning.

The thing about species communicating with each other is it tells us two things, the species has the ability to speak as well as the ability to listen. That means the Hamadryas also has the ability to listen to the crackling sound they produce through an ear known as Vogel’s organ. This ear is located near the base of where the wing meets the body, to be technical it’s at the base of the subcostal and cubital veins. This ear consists of 3 chordotonal organs and enlarged trachea.

The ears of certain moths work in a similar fashion, the difference is in the sound frequencies and pitch ranges they need to listen out for. It seems that ears, in the insect kingdom, are on the lookout for a specific sound. Moths ears become active when their eardrums come in contact with high frequency pitches, this is because they are on the look out for their screeching bat predators at night. For more info on this specific subject, please check out my article on Moth ears, mites and hearing.

One last bit of info that I think is especially cool regarding the Hamadryas is the origin of their name in Greek Mythology. The Hamadryas was an incredible beast that had many heads and could not be killed by chopping off their heads because where one was chopped off, two grew in its place. The Hamadryas also very poisonous saliva and blood, one drop was enough to kill someone. Hercules finally wrecked this bad beast.

Much of this information was available thanks to the fantastic work of Jayne Yack, Daniel Otero, Jeff Dawson, Annemarie Surlykke and James Fullard, “Sound Production and Hearing in the Blue Cracker Butterfly Hamadryas Feronia From Venezuela”, published in The Journal of Experimental Biology 203 (2003).

What makes blue Morpho Butterfly wings blue? The path the light travels Pt. 2

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 20:15:00 +0000

Nature is a pretty awesome thing that takes a lot of imagination to understand it’s deepest trenches. The blue Morpho butterfly is the perfect example of just how creative nature can be, creating colors out of light. In part one I discussed the basics of how diffraction works in the environment and the relation that the blue wings of the Morpho, the blue sky and the blue sea share. Diffraction is the main effect that creates the blue iridescent reflection on the wings, but lets take a deeper look at exactly what’s going on with the scales in the Morpho’s wings.

HowStuffWorks.com

First lets get into the anatomy of the scales in the wings. The scales in all blue Morphiidae are made up of lamella, the same material that coats are teeth. There are two different layers on top of a grey pigmented surface, each of these three layers serves its purpose. The top layer “traps” light that is bounced off the much more reflective lower layer of scales. This, in turn, creates another reflection, kind of like putting two mirrors in front of eachother. However, unlike the mirror, the waves of blue light that are bouncing in between these two lamellar layers creates an amplification effect, strengthening the brilliance and iridescence of the blue. The pigmented layer acts a base, assisting in amplifying the blue even more by reducing unwanted backlight. The different shades that make up the different blue Morphiidae species all have to do with small tweaks to design and separation of the scales.

From the wonderful blog http://morfis.wordpress.com/

There are three things that take place as light enters the scale structures, multilayer interference, diffraction and scattering:

1 – Multilayer interference

2 – Diffraction

3 - Scattering

Multilayer interference; This is a fancy way of saying the light first has to travel through two layers of scales and the space in between them is a very important part of this process. In a sense, this is the source of the blue colored reflection.

Diffraction; The lower scales of the wings, the one’s responsible for the blue color, are made up of ridges that look like small Christmas trees and the light that is passing through changes the angles of where certain portions of the light are held leading us to…

Scattering; Because of the height of the space in between the two layers of scales, certain shades will appear or not.

So, in a complicated nutshell, this is what’s going on every time our eyes admire the blue wings of these amazing creatures.

It’s somewhat tough to grasp. When I was doing my research on this topic I had to keep a scientific dictionary handy to get through certain terms. If you have a suggestion of how to better explain this in a simpler way, please let me know. Otherwise, this is what I got.

References:

-KINOSHITA S. Photophysics of Structural Color in the Morpho Butterflies. (2002)

-Rebecca Coath, May 2007., Investigating the Use of Replica Morpho Butterfly
Scales for Colour Displays. UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON, SCHOOL OF ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE, MAY 2007.,

What makes blue Morpho Butterfly wings blue? Diffraction on Morpho’s explained Pt. 1

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 23:25:00 +0000

Did you know that the Morpho butterfly is blue for the same reason the sky and the sea are blue? The blue Morpho butterfly is world renown for the incredible iridescent characteristics of their wings. What if I were to tell you that the blue Morpho is actually, not really blue? First let’s clarify a few facts about the Morpho butterfly wings:

-Only males have the blue iridescent wings, females have more dull colors for privacy and protection

-Their wings, like almost all lepidoptera, have two layers of scales

-Lepidoptera means scaled wings in ancient Greek

-The 75% of the blue area is only visible when viewed at angles under 100^ohorizontally and 15^o vertically

The trick to creating that blue color effect on their wings is known as diffraction. It is a natural phenomenon by which waves paths are interrupted and bent. What’s going on here is that light is in the form of a wave, like a wave in the ocean, whenever the wave is interrupted water is scattered and sprayed everywhere. The light that enters the Earth during the day goes through diffraction when the are disrupted by atoms of nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere. These particles bend, scatter and in the range of light most waves are absorbed. Blue, however, is found on a shorter frequency (wavelength) allowing them to not only avoid absortion but is actually amplified. The same thing happens when light hits water in the ocean and is bounced off in reflection.

Diffraction in waves of watter

Now, what makes up a wave of light is a layered group of different frequencies along a spectrum, and the colors we can see are found in this spectrum. Each color we can see has a different place on this spectrum characterized by wavelength and frequency range. The color blue, for instance, has a wavelength of 440-490 nm and found within the frequency range of 680 – 610 THz.

*nm = nanometer, a unit of distance equal to one billionth of a meter

-Water molecule = smaller than 1 nm

-Typical germ = 1,000 nm

-Shaquille O’Neal = 2,160,000,000 nm tall

*THz = Terahertz, a unit used to measure the ranges of electromagnetic waves in this certain range

In Part 2, I will go further into the how diffraction effects the blue Morpho butterfly and what beneficial purposes it serves.

References:

Quantified Interference and Diffraction in Single Morpho Butterfly Scales, P. Vukusic, J.R. Sambles, C. R. Lawrence, R.J. Wootton, 1999, Proceedings: Biological Science, Vol. 266, No. 1427, pp. 1403-1411

University of Wisconsin-Madison Materials Research Science and Engineering Center

Nanooze

NASA Space Place

Blue Morpho Deidamia Butterly Pictures Facts and Information

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 23:45:00 +0000

When it comes to butterfly popularity, a blue butterfly usually out ranks the rest from what I've noticed, especially the blue morpho butterflies. Among the blue morpho butterflies, you have species that are normally the nominated choice by the general populace and all of their corresponding wonderful and not so wonderful individuals. Specifically these choice butterflies are the Morpho godarti, didius and menelaus, leaving hidden gems not so common to the general public. One of these types is the exceptional striped Blue Morpho deidamia butterfly, in all it's types and forms.

The Morpho deidamia was first described by German entomologist, Jacob Hubner in 1816. This is a large butterfly from the Nymphalidae family with the same iridescent characteristics and purpose as is considered for the the iridescent blue morpho butterflies. The reflection and blue hues of the Morpho deidamia are merely results of a process known as diffraction on the butterfly wings. The actual color of the "blue" areas of wings are grey. To quickly explain and not leave anyone in the dark, this is the same thing that happens when you tilt a cd in the light:

They can be found fluttering along Neotropical rivers from Nicaragua to Bolivia, confusing predators as they appear as blue flashes because of the intricately oscelli patterns of their underwings. When it comes to butterflies, Ocelli is the name for eye(s) like patterns that are sometimes found on either side of the wing. The Morpho butterflies almost all have some sort of oscelli, which works well as a self defense for them when being chased by hungry birds. They look like an appetizing snack one second, and an multi-eyed monster the next by lifting their wings and showing their undersides.

The M. deidamia was named after the mother of one of Achilles sons in Greek mythology. Deidamia was the very young daughter of King Lycomedes at the time that Achilles was sent to hide, disguised as a young girl, in Lycomedes court. Why was he hiding? There was a prophecy that he would die in the Trojan War and to keep him from fighting he was hidden as a girl. The two fell in love and had a son named Neoptolemus before Achilles went off to war. Years later, Neoptolemus went off to fight in the Trojan War as well.

What does this have to do with the actual butterfly?

I'll wrap it up with this, interestingly enough, the Morpho deidamia is said to belong to several mimicry rings among its genus and species with other, "blue-banded" butterflies. The name of some of these butterflies are the Morpho achilles, and the Morpho deidamia neoptolemus.

Achilles and Deidamia; the surprises of love
18th century etching and engraving
Jac. Balthasar Lidel
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

The Red Panacea Butterfly Pictures, facts and information

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:32:00 +0000

Red Panacea prola butterfly picture

The largest red butterfly from the Panacea family is the P. regina, or the Queen Flasher. First described by Bates in 1864 after Queen Victoria, the Panacea is only rustic red on the undersides of their wings as shown in the image above. The topsides of their wings are a bright iridescent green that gives no hint or foreshadow as to the bright warm colors on the other side if their wings. Although they are also found in several countries along the Amazon rainforest, most of the species Panacea have their highest population densities on the Eastern slopes of the Peruvian Amazon.

Cool Fact: Panacea means a cure for all difficulties and diseases.

This a very clever and unabashed species. The red coloration on the bottom of their wings serve as warning flashes when disturbed or endangered. When disturbed, they raise their lower wings to brightly display the red and flee as a warning to all nearby Panaceas that it's time to leave. Watching them all flutter away after their brief poses showing off the reds of their underwings. It's a really cool sight to see the male Panacea aggregations (large groups), imbibing along the moist sandy patches of the Amazon rivers. Here the Panacea regina is the minority in the groupings when P. prola is around.

The Panacea prola is known to hang out in trees as well, roosting high up towards the canopy at night and coming down lower on the trees during different times of the day. Unlike the black, oscelli markings of the P. regina on the red areas, the P. prola is completely red with a few differences less notable differences at the topsides.

As many Nymphalidae sub-family butterflies, their larvae are gregarious, growing up together in communities and slowly becoming more autonomous from the group as they mature. They have six growth stages as larvae before pupation where all they do is eat nonstop, afterall, this is the main purpose of the caterpillar.

These are growth stages of the Panacea prola.

Female P. prola ovipositing

P. prola eggs

um...shedding skin

Hanging out...eating

Becoming a chrysalis

Hanging out...chrysalis


Pumping hemolymph through veins to spread out wings

These images were all thanks to the Peruvian Amazon Investigation Institute and their awesome video:

The Pamphobeteus antinous Tarantula, among the Largest Spiders

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 23:12:00 +0000

There are many venomous spiders in the Amazon, but among the largest of these spiders is the Pamphobeteus antinous tarantula. They belong to the Tarantula family of Theraphosidae. All Theraphoisidae are venomous, but only very few have strong enough toxins to do harm to humans and the P. antinous is not part of that select group. They are known to eat insects and on occasion birds, mice and lizards.

Pamphobeteus are from the Netropical ecozones of Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador. The antinous was first described by Pocock in 1903. Their hairs are realy irritating and as a self defense they can shoot out hairs at you which will leave a very unpleasant rash. I've heard accounts of these creatures being aggressive and other accounts that they are sweethearts. I have personally seen video from a friend of a tarantula standing on their hind legs fighting with a wasp. The wasp won that fight.

The Green Urania leilus Moth, looks like a Green Swallowtail Butterfly

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 22:16:00 +0000

Ahh yes, the green Urania leilus moth that is a unique specimen amongst is Heterocera brethren. Diurnally active, they enjoy basking in the sun alongside a potpourri of tropical butterflies. Many of the times I’ve seen them is on riverbeds and near wet outdoor laundry areas and faucets. They are not timid and appear as any other colorful swallowtail from the Papilionidae family.

Front Side Urania Leilus

This brilliantly green species belongs to the Uraniidae family of moths, a family of tropical moths known for their bright colors. They are classified differently then the rest of the Geometridae super-family through the placement of their tympanal organs (ears) on the males on a different segment of their abdomen.

Something else that makes them seem more butterfly then moth is the frenulum that connects the fore and hindwings. One of the characteristics that separates a butterfly and a moth is a vein that interconnects the fore and hindwings so in essence, moths do not have as much autonomous motion in their sets of wings as butterflies do.

Backside of Urania leilus

Like all Uraniidae, their larval host plant is the Omphalea. The particular hostplant for the leilus is Omphalea diandra, a plant with oily seeds used in hog feed. The bright colors are said to be warning colors to predators that their wings are toxic. They are closely related with the Urania fulgens, a species that would be physically identical were it not for the lack of green bands past the large green striped, mid-point of the upper wings.

One last really cool fact on the Urania leilus is that Urania was the Mythological muse of astronomy and astrologic studies. She was capable of predicting the future through the position of celesital bodies and stars.

Papilio Pterourus zagreus butterfly pictures, facts and information

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 21:01:00 +0000

This Neotropical butterfly was first described by Doubleday in 1847 and belongs to the Papilionidae family along with the swallowtails. Their reach stretches from Nicaragua to Bolivia, each form is partly recognized by the regions in which they are normally found.

The Papilio zagreus belongs to a mimicry rings of butterflies known as the Tiger clad butterflies or the Tiger complex. Butterflies in this group can usually flaunt themselves and take their time because they are protected by the orange, balck and yellow colors on their wings. The patterns and colors on their wings are known as aposematic coloration or warning patterns that let predators know they are toxic and unpalatable. Sometimes butterflies will copy this strong defense and seem toxic to their predators, taking advantage of the shield these colors provide.

Below are butterfly pictures of different forms of the Papilio zagreus

P. Zagreus zagreus

Ben the Butterfly Guy on Etsy - http://www.etsy.com/shop/BentheButterflyGuy

P. Zagreus ascolius

2008 Kim Davis Mike Stangeland and Andrew Warren - http://www.butterfliesofamerica.com

P. Zagreus bachus

Wikipedia

P. Zagreus zalates

Garthes Insect Grade Book - www.garthesinsectgradebook.20megsfree.com

P. Zagreus chrysomelus


Bolivian Butterflies Checklist - http://www.danske-natur.dk/bolch010.htm

P. Zagreus daguanus

2008 Kim Davis Mike Stangeland and Andrew Warren - http://www.butterfliesofamerica.com

P. Zagreus batesi


Tropical Butterflies and Insects of America - http://www.tropicalbutterflies.com

P. Zagreus chrysoxanthus

Inter-Insects Felix Stumpe - http://www.interinsects.com

P. Zagreus nigroapicalis

InsectNet.com - http://www.insectnet.com/dcforum/User_files/4ab3d6985f023d81.jpg

Blue Morpho Godarti Butterfly Facts and Info

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 20:23:00 +0000

Morpho godarti is named after Jean-Baptiste Godart (25 November 1775 – 27 July 1825), a French entomologist who dedicated his life’s work to his passion for butterflies. Found in Peru and Bolivia, M. godartii is possibly the species of Blue Morpho with the longest life cycles, being between 184 and 215 days (Guerra & Ledemza, 2008).

Morpho godarti eggs (Guerra & Ledemza, 2008)

Morpho godarti hostplant

The females of M. godarti oviposit on the underside of leaves of Inga semialata and Inga ormosia, from the Fabaceae plant family (legumes, peas and beans). An interesting note is that on Inga semialata, eggs are found at least 3 meters off the ground floor, and on ormosia they are found 1 meter off the floor. On rare occasions females will oviposit on the upperside of the leaf. Females can oviposit 15-65 green colored eggs at one time that become brown as they near “hatching” which takes 16-20 days.

Morpho godarti larvae (Guerra & Ledemza, 2008)

Larvae are gregarious, and hang out in groups that get smaller as they mature until pupation. As larvae they go through 5 instars lasting 140 to 167 days, changing in colors, patterns and size throughout each instar. Become a pupa takes 3 days at the end of their 5th instar, and they remain a pupa for approximately 23-35 days.

(Guerra & Ledemza, 2008)

As adults, they slowly, high up in the forest canopy, gliding through the air and are active between 10Am-5Pm. They are predated by Momotus momota nattereri, commonly known as the Blue crowned mot mot, which interestingly enough has a bright blue crest with a very similar shade to the wings of the M. godarti. My theory is that this is something the Blue Crowned mot mot developed as a hunting aid, but that is just a theory.

Blue crowned mot mot Momotus momota nattereri

An interesting note is that Morpho godarti has recently undergone a shift in the taxon tree from being a Morpho species to a Morpho subspecies under Morpho menelaus godarti based on the morphological characteristics of adults (Lamas, 2004). This is questionable because the caterpillars of Morpho menelaus godarti are gregarious hanging out in groups up until pupation whereas the other Morpho menelaus are solitary.

Much of the information in this posting is thanks to a great study conducted by Juan Fernando Guerra Serrudo and Julieta Ledezma-Arias in their work, Biologia y morfologia de Morpho menelaus godartii (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Morphinae) en el Parque Nacional Cotapata (Bolivia). This work was published in "Ecologia en Bolivia" vol. 43, La Paz 2008.

Heliconius Erato Longwing, Butterfly Facts and Information

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 01:24:00 +0000

The Heliconius butterfly for today is none other then the astounding Heliconius erato longwing butterfly. I have been in Lima the past couple weeks, it is colder then it should ever be in what is supposed to be a desert. The constant grey overcast offers no foreshadow of warmth in what seems to be a quarter-years chapter in the “Global Weather Extremes of 2010“. Enough bantering, back to the heliconius butterflies.

Now, out of all the Heliconius butterflies I have shared with you, the Heliconius erato longwing, also known as the small postman butterfly, is the one most commonly found one. This does not make the erato cliché, quite the contrary, it means that he can adapt extremely well to not only his surrounding environment, but to the other heliconius “cousins” that inhabit them as well. The erato pertains to a diverse and complex mimicry ring with several other Heliconius. However, their closest ties are with the Heliconius melpomene longwing, where they can both be found in some “mimicked” form throughout almost all regions in which the erato longwing inhabits. It can be quite a challenge at times determining whether a species is erato or melpomene. The only area where Heliconius erato does not have a melpomene mimic is in Colombia’s upper Cauca valley, where the co-mimic is the Heliconius cydno weymeri.

Photo RAPOSO Paulo

The Heliconius erato longwing also ingests pollen and is grouped in the pupal mater’s clad that have the closed discal cells on the hind wings. Like most Heliconiines, the eratos eggs are small, yellow ovals that can be found on their hostplant Passiflora Granadilla, Tryphostemmatoids and Plectostemma (Brown, 1981). Passiflora granadilla might be the most common hostplant for heliconius butterflies in Peru, growing on plants that give the fruit “maracuya de monte”, makes for amazing juice.

Leonardo Ré-Jorge; photographed at Porto Alegre, southern Brazil.

As a mature larvae, the erato has a white body, dark-yellow head, with black and dark yellow spots all over the body. You also can’t miss the large black thorns sticking out either. Unlike most heliconius butterflies, they are not gregarious and the females oviposit one egg singly on growing shoots. They do however, roost in groups 2-10 meters above the ground. Their pupae stage is common with other Heliconius giving the dead, crinkly-leaf appearances. It is dark brown with golden spots and has thorns sticking out of it.

As adults, males will seek out female pupae and fight to stay perched on the female pupae. The males can “smell” a pheromone the females release before they eclose, this is how the males find their pupae. They copulate before the female is even out of her shell so that she ecloses already fertilized. On top of that, the erato males are known to leave anti-aphrodisiacs on females they have copulated with, to ward off other suitors. Females and males will nectar and ingest amino acids from pollen of the Psiguria flowers. This is especially important for females where it has been found that females that are deprived of Psiguria pollen will only lay about 15% that of those that were allowed access to Psiguria pollen.

Marble statue of Erato from Monte Calvo in Italy

In Greek mythology, Erato was a muse whose name would mean desired or lovely. She was the muse of lyrical poetry, more specifically love and erotic poetry.

Beltrán, Margarita and Andrew V. Z. Brower. 2008. Heliconius erato (Linnaeus 1758). Version 12 August 2008 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Heliconius_erato/72242/2008.08.12 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

Beltrán M, Jiggins CD, Brower AVZ, Bermingham E, Mallet M. 2007. Do pollen feeding, pupal-mating and larval gregariousness have a single origin in Heliconius butterflies? Inferences from multilocus DNA sequence data. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society in press.

Gilbert LE. 1972. Pollen Feeding and Reproductive Biology of Heliconius Butterflies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 69: 1403-1407.

Ehrlich PR, Gilbert LE. 1973 Population structure and dynamics of the tropical butterfly Heliconius ethilla. Biotropica 5: 69-82.

Adrian Hoskins. Learn about Butterflies. http://www.learnaboutbutterflies.com/Amazon-Heliconius eratoluscombei.htm

Wikipedia.org. Heliconius erato

Heliconius Melpomene Longwing Butterfly (Postman Butterfly) Facts and Information

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 00:36:00 +0000

Crossover Hybrids, J. Mallet, 1989

Today I introduce to you the Heliconius melpomene longwing butterfly, more commonly known as the Postman butterfly. This butterfly has been the focus of a long-standing and continuing investigation partly because of their close mimicry rings with that of the Heliconius erato. The closeness between the erato and the melpomene is so great that they even crossbreed and give way to hybrids. The forms of the melpomene and the erato can both be traced to the same groupings of loci (J. Mallet, 1989). Their 30 different patterns and forms seem to be based on geographic locations throughout the neotropics.

Turner, JRG (1975)

Keith S. Brown, Jr. 1979.

The Melpomene longwing is spread throughout the most of the Neotropical region (Central and S. America). There is a difference between the Central American and the S. American Heliconius melpomenes when it comes to host plant preferences. In C. America the female melpomene is known to have stricter ovipositioning guidelines with Passiflora oerstedii or menispermifolia, whereas in S. America they are not as picky and are hosted by a greater diversity of Passiflora feeding on P. granadilla, P. plectostemma and P. distephana .


Cosmin, 2008

Like most Heliconius, the eggs are yellow, darkening with maturity, but unlike many Heliconius they are not largely gregarious. By that I mean that they hang out in groups of at most 3 larvae. The larvae have black thorns and spots on a white body, an orange head with 2 sharp black horns and a yellow anal plate. Pupa has thorns and is brown with gold spots.

Cosmin, 2008

One last note, in 2008 it was published that the H. melpomene is known to use anti-aphrodisiacs after mating where the male will leave an oder on a mated female to ward off other suitors. (2008, Schulz)

FYI: Melpomene was the muse of tragedy, originally being the muse of song. The original Greek translation is Melpomai meaning to celebrate with dance and song. The daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne she is depicted as wearing the crown of Cypress and holding a mask in one hand and a knife or club in the other.

References:

Jiggins, Chris, Margarita Beltrán, and Andrew V. Z. Brower. 2008. Heliconius melpomene (Linnaeus 1758). Version 04 September 2008 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Heliconius_melpomene/72252/2008.09.04 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

J. Mallet. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, Vol. 236, No. 1283 (Mar. 22, 1989), pp. 163-185

An Antiaphrodisiac in Heliconius melpomene Butterflies. Stefan Schulz & Catalina Estrada & Selma Yildizhan & Michael Boppré & Lawrence E. Gilbert. Journal of Chemical Ecology, January 2008. Volume 34, Number 1

Turner, JRG (1975): A tale of two butterflies. Natural History 84 (No. 2, February), 24-37

Counterman, B. A., Arajuo-Perez, F., Hines, H. M., Baxter, S. W., Morrison, C. M., Lindstrom, D. P., Papa, R., Ferguson, L., Joron, M., ffrench-Constant, R., Smith, C., Nielsen, D. M., Chen, R., Jiggins, C. D., Reed, R. D., Halder, G., Mallet, J., and W. O. McMillan. 2010. Genomic hotspots for adaptation: population genetics of Müllerian mimicry in Heliconius erato. PLoS Genetics 6 (2): e10000794.

Keith S. Brown, Jr. 1979. Ecologia Geográfica e Evolução nas Florestas Neotropicais. 2 vols. (Tese apresentada à Universidade Estadual de Campinas como parte das exigências de um Concurso de Livre Docência, area de Ecologia). Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, Brazil.

2009 Butterfly Genetics Group, Department of Zoology, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ

Information provided by c.jiggins[at]zoo.cam.ac.uk

Pictures of larvae and pupae: Cosmin, Manci 2008, http://cosmln.nature4stock.com/?m=200811&gtlang=lv

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melpomene

Heliconius butterfly eggs on Passiflora granadilla

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 02:52:00 +0000

Heliconius Laparus doris eggs on Passiflora granadilla
Originally uploaded by Ben the Butterfly Guy

Over the weekend I was tipped off to an field of orange trees where a nearby Passiflora granadilla plant was hosting atleast 200 Heliconius pupaes sitting on it. Sure enough when I got there, not only did I get to see all these Heliconius chrysalis sitting grouped together, but I was also able to witnessed what were two, maybe 3 females ovipositing on what was one of the only immature leaves left to oviposit on. I say maybe 3 females because there was one erratically flying on and off the leaf where the other two were ovipositing. I could not tell what he/she was doing, but kept this repetitious pattern for a good 5 minutes. Maybe she was trying to look for space, or maybe he was trying to convince one of them to mate again.

On the immature leaf were 103 eggs.

The Passiflora granadilla they were on, also known as the plant that gives the delicious maracuya de monte, was almost completely devoured by the previous generation. I must have counted around 200 pupae in four different clusters of about 50 each. The way that they were together hinted to me that they were of the Heliconius Laparus doris, but would like someone with a bit more experience then I to confirm that.

Also on this same plant, I found a leaf-footed Diactor bilineatus hanging out. Quite photogenic and would not leave us alone. He stuck to my shirt either looking for sweat or a hug, but finally, after lots of photos, I put him back on the leaf we found him on.

An interesting note, not even a meter from the P. granadilla we found an unidentified plant, right next to a beautifully bloomed Torch Ginger (Ettlingera elatior) were three larvae. It seemed that they also belonged to the Heliconius family, but could not confirm the species. Based by the colors and plant they were on, I doubt it was Laparus doris.

Please if you can help me confirm my Id's for the eggs and pupae as for Laparus doris as well as the species of the larvae found on the other plant, I would greatly appreciate it.

Links for 2010-06-25 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 00:00:00 PDT

Red howler monkey singing to Iphone Itunes
As the loudest animal on Earth, the Red Howler Monkey can not just make noise but sing along to music. In this video you can see the Red Howler Monkey I was able to visit on a rescue center in Puerto Maldonado Peru, singing.

Heliconius xanthocles longwing butterfly facts and information

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 00:53:00 +0000

The Heliconius xanthocles butterfly is a fascinating butterfly from the unpalatable, closed discal celled group of the Heliconiini tribe. The Heliconius xanthocles, like many other heliconiini's, have many different physical forms and each one pertains to a series of mimicry rings. The most common xanthocles pertains to a series of similarly patterned Heli's in the Dennis-Ray complex. Dennis is the red-orange pattern on the forewings that "radiates" outward from the body whereas Ray is red-orange striped "clawish" looking pattern in the hindwings. Take note on the image below:

One key physical characteristic that sets the xanthocles apart from other Heliconius butterflies and makes it a whole lot easier to determine whether your butterfly is xanthocles or not are yellow "rings" that are scales on the lower abdomen.

This species is distributed throughout a large region of the South American Amazon, from Colombia to Peru. Each subspecies and form differs in geographic location, as the map from Dr. Keith Brown Jr. shows us:

The females of this species are known to oviposit their eggs together forming groups of larvae that will grow in gregarious fashion until they are ready to pupate. It is suggested that females do this to give these larval communities "strength in numbers" with studies showing that there is a "...positive relationship between group size and larval survivorship in the field" (P. E. Allen, 2010). Normally, the xanthocles females will oviposit between 10 and 40 eggs on their host plant Passiflora granadilla.

Once out of their eggs, adult males can sometimes be found hovering over their larvae, which I just find fascinating. In their first couple instars, xanthocles have black bands along a yellow body. Once they further mature into their final instars their head is black and they have black scoli and "thorns" protruding from their backs.

Image by Dr. James Mallet

Once the larvae is in their final instar and ready to pupate they begin to move around a lot more and seperate themselves from the gregarious communities they have grown up in. As pupa they are similar to that of other closed discal celled heliconiinis in the sense that their color base is a dead leaf like brown with gold spots and thorns. In my opinion one of the coolest things about the pupa of the heliconius are the pattern of small "thorns" that run along the abdomen, with more prominent longer "thorns" on the other side.

Image by Dr. James Mallet

As adults they are fast flyers found between sea level and 1500m. They are also part of the pollen digesting group (digesting pollen externally on the proboscis) and have been known to visit droppings and human "spittle".

A special thank you to Dr. James Mallet, much of the information in this article came from his 1980 published study, "The Ecology and Social Behaviour of the Neotropical butterfly Heliconius xanthocles Bates in Colombia". He is a great contributor to the ever expanding wealth of information on the phenomenal and mysterious world of the Heliconius butterflies. He was also awarded the Darwin-Wallace medal of the Linnean Society which honours the greatest contributers to the field of evolutionary biology. "The Ecology and Social Behaviour of the Neotropical butterfly Heliconius xanthocles Bates in Colombia" was the first paper he ever published, so it was an extra honor to be able to read it. Thank you.

References:

Mallet, J., & Jackson, D.A. (1980). The ecology and social behaviour of the Neotropical butterfly Heliconius xanthocles Bates in Colombia. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 70:1-13

Beltrán, Margarita and Andrew V. Z. Brower. 2008. Heliconius xanthocles H. W. Bates 1862. Version 13 August 2008 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Heliconius_xanthocles/72244/2008.08.13 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

Mathieu Joron, http://heliconius.zoo.cam.ac.uk/joron/mjguide.html

P. E. Allen, 2010, Insectes Sociaux, “Group size effects on survivorship and dult development in the gregarious larvae of Euselasie chrysippe” Vol. 57, No. 2

Red Howler Monkey, Alouatta juara, Amazon in Peru

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 01:31:00 +0000

I thought I would take a break from the Helicionius study to share a video of the amazing Red Howler Monkey found in Peru. They are truly amazing.

Howling monkeys come from the family Alouatta. The way they howl is through an elongated hyoid bone. They are the loudest animal on Earth, with the ability to be heard 3 miles away. They are trichromatic, meaning they have three color receptors in their retinas, allowing them to see like we do. Howler monkeys have a lifespan of 15 to 20 years.

This red howler in particular was in a rescue center in Puerto Maldonado, Peru. He is singing to the tunes of pachanga music.

Watch how their lungs work as they sing.

In this video you can also see me friend and colleague, Lepidopterist Ashley Wick fascinated by the singing howler monkey.

I would also like to thank Fauna Forever Tambopata for giving the opportunity to work with them on the butterfly team.

Heliconius sara longwing butterfly facts and information

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 19:09:00 +0000

Just a bit of information on the Heliconius sara longwing butterfly today. They are found along a vast range from mid-Mexico to Peru and Bolivia. Their wingspan is about 3% smaller than other Heliconia and some would say this poses an advantage.

Like most Heliconius, eggs are small and yellow, as they mature the become darker and more of an orange hue. When females gather to oviposit, they will place 15 to 40 eggs on immature offshoots of their host plant, Astrophea or Granadilla from the Passiflora family. One suggestion as to why they are laid on new shoots of their host plant has to do with toxicity levels in the plant, and what the caterpillar is able to withstand. The concern lies in caterpillars unable to consume mature leaves of the passiflora until they have acquired a level of resistance to the toxins, that are at the same time key to their genetic structure and internal hormone shifts. I would love to include a link to the publication I read this in but embarrisingly enough I can not remember where I read it.

The larvae are gregarious, hanging out in the same groups they are laid in as eggs. As mature larvae they are yellow with a black head, black scoli (thorns) and black bands. The pupae on of this species is fascninating, looks like something out of Hellraiser. Like most Heliconius it has the deadleaf brown-like appearance, but with black thorns sticking out of it and golden spots.

Heliconius sara longwing caterpillar courtesy of Caterpillars.org

This butterfly is often confused with the Heliconius wallacei whose range overlaps that of the sara and does not extend as far north as the range of the sara. As adults, the sara is a pupal mater and a pollen ingestor. Also like many Heliconius they roost in groups at night, but unlike most Heliconius they roost between 2 to 10 meters (which is different the Heliconius roosting below 2 meters). They are also found near forest margins in secondary growth vegetation such as near rivers.

ADDENDUM: The Heliconius sara longwing longwing belongs to a group in the Heliconiini tribe of butterflies that has a closed discal cell on the hindwings. This characteristic is tied to unpalatable Heliconiini butterflies. Palatability and unpalatibility effects the flight style and patterns of the butterfly in question. Being that this butterfly belongs to the unpalatable, closed discalcell on the hindwing group, their flight patterns are slow and smooth, since they have no worries of being eaten.

References;

Beltrán, Margarita and Andrew V. Z. Brower. 2010. Heliconius sara (Fabricius 1793). Version 21 June 2010 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Heliconius_sara/72943/2010.06.21 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Longwing

Photo of pupae by Adrian Hoskins, http://www.learnaboutbutterflies.com/Lifecycle%203.htm

Hernandez M.I.M., Benson W.W.
Small-male advantage in the territorial tropical butterfly Heliconius sara (Nymphalidae): A paradoxical strategy?
(1998) Animal Behaviour, 56 (3), pp. 533-540.

Heliconius Laparus doris longwing butterfly facts and information

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 01:39:00 +0000

The Heliconius Laparus doris butterfly is one of the strongest butterflies in the Amazon region. They can live up to 9 months. Being that neotropical butterflies, normally, only live a couple weeks this is an extremely long time. How they do this has to do with a charactersitic no other butterfly but the Heliconius have and this is the their ability to ~~ingest pollen~~ digest pollen externally while it's on the proboscis (thanks Christian for the correction).

The Laparus doris is a polymorphic butterflies that comes in several different forms, for the most part in three colors: red, blue and green. When it comes time to oviposit, females with gather on the host plant and lay their eggs together on the buds of new Passiflora leaves. The eggs are yellow and become orange as they mature. In their final instar, the doris butterfly has an orange head with two horns, the body is white with black spots and scoli along the top. Like most Heliconius, they are also gregarious as caterpillars (grow up together in groups). As a pupae, they have a similar dead leaf appearance being brown with tainted spots and black thorns. Their hostplant is the Granadilla Passiflora.

Elevation preference for the Heliconius doris is between sea level and 1800 meters, from Costa Rica to Bolivia. As adults they consume nectar and more importantly pollen. The females in particular will obtain their pollen from Psiguria and Psychotia flowers. They are fast yet graceful flyers found in forest clearrings.

ADDENDUM: The Heliconius Laparus doris longwing belongs to a group in the Heliconiini tribe of butterflies that has a closed discal cell on the hindwings. This characteristic is tied to unpalatable Heliconiini butterflies. Palatability and unpalatibility effects the flight style and patterns of the butterfly in question. Being that this butterfly belongs to the unpalatable, closed discal cell on the hindwing group, their flight patterns are slow and smooth, since they have no worries of being eaten.

FYI: Doris was the name of a sea nymph in Greek mythology, and the mother of the 50 Nereids.

References:

Beltrán, Margarita and Andrew V. Z. Brower. 2008. Heliconius doris (Linnaeus 1771). Version 07 October 2008 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Heliconius_doris/72918/2008.10.07 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

Adrian Hoskins, http://www.learnaboutbutterflies.com/Amazon%20-%20Laparus%20doris.htm

Image of Heliconius Doris eclosing frmo pupae: http://jaxstumpes.blogspot.com/2007/07/la-paz-waterfall-gardens.html

Links for 2010-06-19 [del.icio.us]

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 00:00:00 PDT

Analysis of American Opinion on the Current Immigrant Laws
What happens when you get an American majority ignorantly commenting on what they understand nothing of...

Dryas iulia, Julia Butterfly or Julia Heliconius Butterfly Facts and Information

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 22:07:00 +0000

In continuation with my species study on the Heliconius butterflies, I introduce you to the Julia butterfly. I originally thought this was the Dryas julia, come to find out that scientifically, it is actually the Dryas iulia, and the common name is the Julia butterfly, or the Julia heliconian. This neotropical butterfly from the Heliconiini tribe is found through a very vast region, spanning from the Southern States in the U.S. down to subtropical climates of Peru and Bolivia. It was first described by Fabricius in 1775 and is a member of the Nymphalidae family.

The eggs are oviposited on passiflora leaves and shoots, being yellow and cylindrical they become more orange with maturity. As the caterpillars they are brown, adorned with red and white stripes, black and yellow scoli, and a brown and white head. As pupae they have the same brown dead leaf appearance as the Dione moneta and the Dione juno. They are gregarious as larvae, however, in much smaller groups the the Diones.

Dryas iulia female ovipositing her eggs and a iulia caterpillar in the final instars. Image by Edith Smith from Shady Oak Butterfly Farm

They are fast fliers, found in clearings, paths, and margins of forests and woodlands. Their host plant is the Astrophea and the Polyanthea from the Passiflora family. Also like the Diones, they are known to roost in on plants and leaves below two meters.

Dryas iulia eggs and pupae after being eclosed. Image by Edith Smith from Shady Oak Butterfly Farm

ADDENDUM: The Dryas iulia butterfly belongs to a group in the Heliconiini tribe with the Dione moneta and Dione juno butterflies that have the discal cell on their hindwings open. These open discal celled butterflies do not ingest pollen and have a much shortened lifespan then their cousins from the closed discal cell Heliconiinis. Another characteristic of open discal celled heliconiini is that they are palatable. This has repercushions on their flight patterns, because they are not protected through unpalatability from predators, their flight style is quick, jumpy and erratic.

These ‘open cell’ heli- coniines are generally fast flying to avoid predation and are relatively edible (Brower, 1995). In addition, their highly dispersive populations are associated with open sunny habitats, where they visit unspe- cialized butterfly pollinated flowers with short corol- las and large floral displays (e.g. Lantana) (Gilbert, 1991)

FYI: Dryas in latin is a wood nymph or oak in old Greek. In Greek mythology, Dryas was one of the sons of Ares that was among the heros in search of the Calydonian boar. Dryas was killed by his brother Tereus after being prophecied by the oracle that Tereus son would be killed by a relative.

References;

These beautiful images by Edith Smith from Shady Oak Butterfly Farm, check out her site, butterflyfunfacts.com

Beltrán, Margarita and Andrew V. Z. Brower. 2008. Dryas Huebner 1807. Dryas iulia (Fabricius 1775). Version 04 September 2008 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Dryas_iulia/70435/2008.09.04 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

Butterflies and Moths of North America (BMNA) [2008]: Julia Heliconian. Retrieved 2008-AUG-14.

Miller, L.D. & Miller, J.Y. (2004): The Butterfly Handbook: 115. Barron's Educational Series, Inc., Hauppauge, New York. ISBN 0-7641-5714-0

Pinheiro, Carlos E.G. (1996): Palatability and escaping ability in Neotropical butterflies: tests with wild kingbirds (Tyrannus melancholicus, Tyrannidae). Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 59(4): 351–365. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.1996.tb01471.x

Adult feeding and palatability in Heliconius Marcio Cardoso, 1999

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~gilbert/research/index.html#Adult%20feeding%20and%20palatability%20in%20%3CI%3EHeliconius%3C/I%3E

Links for 2010-01-13 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:00:00 PST

Oleria onega Glasswing Butterfly Part 3: The life cycle from egg to adult
This is the 3rd and final part to a series on the Oleria onega glasswing butterflies. This is on their life from egg to adult.

Links for 2010-01-08 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:00:00 PST

Oleria onega butterfly Part 2: Ovipositing, pre-alighting and post-alighting behavior
A great series on the Oleria onega glasswing, neotropical butterfly from the Amazon jungle in Peru

Links for 2010-01-07 [del.icio.us]

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:00:00 PST

Oleria onega Butterfly; One of the many glasswing butterflies (Part 1)
A great article on the awesomeness that is the Oleria onega glasswing butterfly

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Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Butterfly wings used for solar energy panels...

Links for 2009-09-16 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Great Pics of Amazon Jungle life in Satipo Peru

Butterfly facts and information on Tropical Butterflies of the Amazon - Butterfly Guy Ben

Heliconius atthis, the False Zebra Longwing butterfly

Painted Beauty Batesia hypochlora Butterfly Facts and Info

Chytridiomycosis - A fungus that has killed off over 200 species of frogs and growing

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Red and Blue Agrias claudina sardanapalus Butterfly Facts and Info

Transparent Pink Glasswing Butterfly, Cithaerias pireta (Blushing Phantom)

88 Butterfly Diaethria clymena, Larval Caterpillar stage (Part 2)

The 88 Butterfly, Diaethria clymena, facts and information (Part 1)

Hamadryas butterfly facts and information; How do these butterflies communicate through sound?

What makes blue Morpho Butterfly wings blue? The path the light travels Pt. 2

What makes blue Morpho Butterfly wings blue? Diffraction on Morpho’s explained Pt. 1

Blue Morpho Deidamia Butterly Pictures Facts and Information

Achilles and Deidamia; the surprises of love 18th century etching and engraving Jac. Balthasar Lidel Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

The Red Panacea Butterfly Pictures, facts and information

The Pamphobeteus antinous Tarantula, among the Largest Spiders

The Green Urania leilus Moth, looks like a Green Swallowtail Butterfly

Papilio Pterourus zagreus butterfly pictures, facts and information

Blue Morpho Godarti Butterfly Facts and Info

Heliconius Erato Longwing, Butterfly Facts and Information

Heliconius Melpomene Longwing Butterfly (Postman Butterfly) Facts and Information

An Antiaphrodisiac in Heliconius melpomene Butterflies. Stefan Schulz & Catalina Estrada & Selma Yildizhan & Michael Boppré & Lawrence E. Gilbert. Journal of Chemical Ecology, January 2008. Volume 34, Number 1

Heliconius butterfly eggs on Passiflora granadilla

Links for 2010-06-25 [del.icio.us]

Heliconius xanthocles longwing butterfly facts and information

Red Howler Monkey, Alouatta juara, Amazon in Peru

Heliconius sara longwing butterfly facts and information

Heliconius Laparus doris longwing butterfly facts and information

Links for 2010-06-19 [del.icio.us]

Dryas iulia, Julia Butterfly or Julia Heliconius Butterfly Facts and Information

Links for 2010-01-13 [del.icio.us]

Links for 2010-01-08 [del.icio.us]

Links for 2010-01-07 [del.icio.us]

Links for 2009-09-17 [del.icio.us]

Links for 2009-09-16 [del.icio.us]

Achilles and Deidamia; the surprises of love
18th century etching and engraving
Jac. Balthasar Lidel
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco