Neotropical Butterfly Facts and Information / Amazon Rainforest Eco-Systems

Citheronia Regalis (Regal Moth): Hickory Horned Devil Caterpillars Life Cycle

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 14:10:00 +0000

In the world of Lepidoptera one would be quite foolish to think that butterflies and moths are segregated from the ranks of what is considered “beautiful or bland”. A moth that would make mockery of such a notion would be the Citheronia regalis, otherwise known as Regal Moth, Royal Walnut Moth or Hickory Horned Devil when it’s in caterpillar form. This species from the Saturniiday family is considered the largest moth north of Mexico as larvae, cocoon and adult.

Towards the end of summer, females will begin to oviposit yellowish, oval shaped eggs on the leaves of several hostplants from the Carya tree genus. These are basically Hickory trees such known in the States as Buttonbush, Filbert, Bush Honeysuckle, Persimmon, Ash, Cotton, Butternut, Black Walnut, English Walnut and Privet. They hatch 7 – 10 days after being laid and becoming unstoppable eating forces, feeding at night. During the day they hide out and take on the appearance as bird droppings. As they go through their different instars they begin to loose the shyness and emerge during the day to feed. These caterpillars are quite famous, given the name Hickory Horned Devil for their nasty looking collection of pricked horns erecting from he body. Despite their hellish appearance, they are quite harmless.

By the time they are ready to pupate they have grown 15 cm or about half a foot in size. Their final meal as a caterpillar is a gluttonous meal, engorging themselves in preparation for pupation. Also consider that this will be the last meal of their lives because it’s the last time they will have a mouth with eating capabilities. As they stuff themselves in this final larvae stage, the color of the caterpillar will change from green to turquoise. The Hickory Horned Devil will then make his way to the ground and burrow himself about 6 inches into the dirt where it will form into a large, black-brown stone looking cocoon. They will stay in this stage for one or two seasons, coming out only when they feel climate conditions are as good as they’re going to get.

Female on the left

Once they eclose (hatch) from their cocoon they hang out for a few minutes, pumping hemolymph (insect blood) through the veins of their wings to spread them out properly. The reason for their gluttonous rampage when they were last conscious is because they no longer have a mouth with components to ingest nutrients. This is why they only live for about a week as adults, or only until their bodies have exhausted their stored energy. Their sole purpose is to mate and reproduce on the fly (no pun intended). The females will emit pheromones as soon as they come out of their pupa to get fertilized and begin laying as many eggs possible. The male picks up the scent miles away through his large, fuzzy antennas. A female will only mate once, males mate several times throughout their short, reproductive cycle.

These great photos were taken by Jana Miller, check out her page and great documentation/observation of this amazing creature at:

http://critters.gato-ranch.com/hhd.html

Also check out her really real bone artwork and jewelry.

Eumorpha labruscae, Venezuelan Poodle Moth and/or Gaudy Hawk Moth

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 17:00:00 +0000

The Gaudy Hawk Moth is a unique treasure from the Neotropical Region of South America. Enjoy a unique article with pictures of other odd looking moths on the link above.

Beautiful Perisama butterfly

noreply@blogger.com (Ben Bolet) — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 17:42:00 +0000

These beauties are some of my favorites from the same family as the 88 butterflies.

The Papilio Schauz Butterfly (P. aristodemus ponceanus) Rescue Effort

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 15:53:00 +0000

The University of Florida has received permission from U.S. Fish and Wildlife to collect 4 female Papilio Schauz for a captive breeding program. Now being from Miami I'm not too fond of the Gators, however, when it comes to saving eco-systems and the species they inhabit (especially in the lepidoptera world) U of F is and has always been top notch. Here is a pic from the University of Florida of a female Papilio Schauz ovipositing her eggs on wild lime.

The Blue Morpho Butterfly: A Brief Overview

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 20:21:00 +0000

Blue Morpho Butterflies have become one of the most recognized icons of the treasures harbored by the Amazon rainforest. Their iridescence has been studied and applied to the development of things we use daily. Every time the cashier you just paid tilts your dollar bills in the light to check for counterfeit bills, she is looking for iridescent, color-changing marks developed by studying the wings of Morpho butterflies. In Greek mythology, the word Morpho was an epiphet (another name) for Aphrodite at Sparta, the Goddess of love and beauty at the city of the God of War. As Morpho, Aphrodite was represented in a sitting posture with her head covered, and her feet fettered.

An epiphet of Aphrodite - Morpho 'the shapely'

In Peru, natives from the Amazon believed that forest spirits (chullachaquis) take the form or Morpho butterflies to lead followers into the jungle and become lost forever. The first one ever shown outside of the Neotropics was by Sir Walter Raleigh, who gave it as a gift to Queen Elizabeth. She wore it in her hair to a ball and horrified some of the Naturalists present, thus giving the butterfly to one of them as a gift. Later on it was published that this specific specimen was the Morpho peleides.

Morpho butterflies come from Nymphalidae sub-family Morphinae, where you also find the Caligo Owl Eyes butterflies. The Morphinae sub-family has three tribes, Amathusiini, Brassolini and Morphini. Specifically speaking, the Morphini tribe is the one that houses the commonly known blue Morpho butterflies. The ventral side (underside) is almost always brown with obvious ocelli patterns (ocelli = eyespots). On species of Morpho like the adonis and godarti, the wings are thin enough to see the ocelli patterns on the verso from the front side.

The reason why Morpho butterflies have iridescence that reflect different blue hues at different angles is not because the scales have a blue pigmentation. It has to do with the way the scales are placed on the wing membrane (Hirata and Ohsako 1996, Pillai 1968). They are arranged in a pattern that resembles the shingles on a roof, then through diffraction they produce the blue like, ultraviolet reflection and iridescence in the wings. The actual color of the wings is a brownish grey. If you really want to know the in depth process of diffraction on Morpho wings check out the published study by Rebecca Coath from the University of Southampton, “Investigating the Use of Replica Morpho Butterfly Scales for Colour Displays”.

The females of the Morphos are not bright blue like the males of the species. In many cases such as the Rhetenor morphos and Morpho peleides the females are yellow in coloration. On very rare occasions you may come across a morpho that’s not symmetrically blue known as gynandromorphs. This is a result of sexual dimorphism where the butterfly contains traits of both male and females of their species. This can mean that one wing is all blue from the male side, and the other wing yellow from the female side.

The Pussy Moth - Poisonous Caterpillar in the U.S.

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Thu, 31 May 2012 20:53:00 +0000

They are also known as Southern Flannel Moth, Pussy Moth, Puss Caterpillar, Bolivia Bug, and Asp in Texas. The scientific name is Megalopyge opercularis. Stings from the furry looking hairs has documented the following:

"Typical reports included descriptions such as “it felt as though my arm had been broken”; “it immediately felt like a hammer hit me”; and “I have had kidney stones before, but I believe the pain I am experiencing from the asp sting is worse.” Twenty-nine percent described swelling of a limb, similar to the 28% reported by Stipetec et al. (9). Twenty per- cent or fewer felt nausea, headache/fever, and itching. Approximately 9% report acute abdominal distress (as has been reported before in Neustater et al. (17)), sometimes lasting for days."

-David M. Eagleman, 2008, Envenomation by the asp caterpillar

Myrmecophily: Butterfly Ant Love

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:17:00 +0000

The difference between foe and friend

left: caterpillar being eaten

right: caterpillar being eaten from (honey dew)

It’s a big risk for any insect to be in such close proximity with a force as powerful as the ants. One wrong move or mix up and they can perceive the insect as a threat, that’s like being the only human in a zombie pile up. Lycaenidae butterflies are very conniving and have a pretty impressive set of skills that allow them to infiltrate the colony. This allows them to have preferential treatment and attention from the ants, even putting the Lycaenidae butterflies before their own species.

Myrmecophily, is a word that literally means ant-love. Lycaenidae love the ants, they depend on them to survive, and the ants love the Lycaenidae for their sweet nectar. A love out of need, want and desire so intense in some cases it’s parasitism.

About 75% of Lycaenidae have some sort of advanced association with ants. These three associations “classes” are:

Obligate – Dependent on the ants or survival at some point in their life cycle

Facultative – There are associations with ants that are not necessary for survival

Non-ant-associated – No associations, however, Lycaenids in this class they are still safe from ant aggression

Lycaenidae larvae have an organ called the Dorsal Nectary Organ (honeydew gland). This gland secretes a honeydew-like liquid that’s like a nutritious, amino-acid filled ants love crack. A little further back on the caterpillars body you have the tentacle organs (TO’s), what these do is release a pheromone that makes the ants alert and aggressive towards anything that might do the caterpillar harm. They work in combination with the DNO’s in a pretty clever way. Depending on the threat level, they will secrete more honeydew liquid to attract more ants and then the caterpillar releases their pheromones on this larger group of ants creating more guards.

Photo and video from Butterflies of Singapore

The mimicking of sounds that are recognized as signals to the ants is another weapon in the myrmecphily arsenal of some Lycaenidae. For instance, De Vries (DeVries 1999) found that the Thisbe irenea larvae, among several other species of Lycaenidae, made a repeated vibratory pulse through the vibratory papillae. The rhythmic tapping is done at 16 pulses/second and attracts ants. Larvae with their vibratory papillae removed resulted in a significant decrease of tending ants.

Lycaenid larvae being fed trophillaxis (ant vomit)

Acoustical mimicry accounts for what I find to be the greatest trick of all in this devious relationship. The extremely fascinating and highly endangered Maculinea rebeli mimic the sounds that the queen ants make. This gets them preferential treatment above the rest of the brood, even receiving food before their own ant larvae when food was scarce. In the following link you can hear the sounds of the larvae mimicking the ant queen.

So yea, butterflies and ants get along in a really intense yea. Sure, it might be creepy, but whats creepy to a species that eats eachothers vomit (ants regurgitate a nutritious liquid called trophillaxis both other ants and caterpillars eat). That's my article on myrm lovin'.

References and good reads:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16543-parasitic-butterflies-dupe-hosts-with-ant-music.html

DeVries, P. J. 1991c. The mutualism between Thisbe irenea and ants, and the role of ant ecology in the evolution of larval–ant associ- ations. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 43, 179–195.

Acoustics, context and function of vibrational signalling in a lycaenid butterfly–ant mutualism

Phylogenetics of Myrmica ants and their social parasites

Growth and development in the ant nest

The Ecology and Evolution of Ant Association in the Lycaenidae (Lepidoptera)

Adoption of parasitic Maculinea alcon caterpillars (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) by three Myrmica ant species

Starry Night Cracker Butterfly - The Non-Crackling Hamadryas Laodamia

noreply@blogger.com (Ben the Butterfly Guy) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 18:51:00 +0000

The Hamadryas laodamia butterfly, as known in the taxonomic branch, or the Starry Night Cracker, as recognized in the enthusiast's circles, is a very unique and interesting Hamadryas butterfly. This species is in a clad all by himself among this genus because they do not make any Crackling sounds.

Real Butterfly - Hamadryas Laodamia

First let's begin with some basics on this great species. The H. laodamia was first described by the wealthy Dutch linens merchant Pieter Cramer in 1777 (A year after Cramers death). They are almost always seen basking on tree trunks of primary forest ranging from 0 - 900 m above seal level, between Mexico and Peru. They imbibe from rotting fruit, carrion and moist river beds at aggregation spots.

Hamadryas laodamia larvae (caterpillar)

A little while ago I wrote an article about the way Hamadryas butterflies make noise. They make a crackling sound through an abnormally swollen vein on the upper wing. The Hamadryas laodamia supposedly had this ability at one point, but through time evolved in transformation...

"The loss of sound production is accompanied by two other transformations: the presence of male scent organs (not present in any other species in the genus), and the presence of sexual dimorphism in wing shape and colour pattern. The congruence of these characters suggests that sound production cues have been replaced by visual and olfactory signals in H. laodamia..." ( GARZÓN-ORDUÑA, 2011)

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 Doubleday in 1847 (thanks for the correction eratosignis), 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.

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 - Red Cracker Butterfly

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?” depending on the sex of the invader. 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).

April 2012 update - There is a Hamadryas butterfly species that is not able to make a crackling sound, the H. laodamia. This is because of an evolutionary adaptation that has replaced or modified their hearing organ and the hollow, enlarged vein that allows them to normally make the crackling sound. They've been modified to make way for sex indicators.

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