# Lepidoptera Lovers: Butterfly Kisses



## freedombecki

Butterflies and moths are like the beautiful flowers of the Animal Kingdom. This thread is for sharing photos, facts, and inspirational sightings of any member of the Lepidoptera family.

I'll start with a specie in my favorite color: _Lysandra bellargus_. (Adonis Blue)







Credits: Kent, UK dot gov​
In the book, _A World of Butterflies_, text by Brian Cassie, 2004, Chanticleer Press, p. 60. it says: "The Adonis Blue is one of many species of blues that is closely attended by ants during its larval stage. The ants feed on sweet secretions from the larvae's honeydew glands and they provide the immature insects with a measure of protection from predators. Adonis Blue caterpillars, which feed openly during the day, are almost always found in the company of ants. At times the ants even protect them at night by covering them over with a layer of soil."

I have the book in my private library at home. It's a small hardcover that has full-page sized butterfly photographs by photographer Kjell Sandved.


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## freedombecki

_Lepidoptera, Bombyx mori_ (Silk Moth)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJaEPMRcKCo&hd=1"]&#x202a;[/ame]


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## Grace

Neato!!!


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## Momanohedhunter

freedombecki said:


> Butterflies and moths are like the beautiful flowers of the Animal Kingdom. This thread is for sharing photos, facts, and inspirational sightings of any member of the Lepidoptera family.
> 
> I'll start with a specie in my favorite color: _Lysandra bellargus_. (Adonis Blue)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Credits: Kent, UK dot gov​
> In the book, _A World of Butterflies_, text by Brian Cassie, 2004, Chanticleer Press, p. 60. it says: "The Adonis Blue is one of many species of blues that is closely attended by ants during its larval stage. The ants feed on sweet secretions from the larvae's honeydew glands and they provide the immature insects with a measure of protection from predators. Adonis Blue caterpillars, which feed openly during the day, are almost always found in the company of ants. At times the ants even protect them at night by covering them over with a layer of soil."
> 
> I have the book in my private library at home. It's a small hardcover that has full-page sized butterfly photographs by photographer Kjell Sandved.



I remember when I was a kid in Long Beach, the monarch's would be every ware. All over the walls, windows us.


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## Momanohedhunter

freedombecki said:


> Butterflies and moths are like the beautiful flowers of the Animal Kingdom. This thread is for sharing photos, facts, and inspirational sightings of any member of the Lepidoptera family.
> 
> I'll start with a specie in my favorite color: _Lysandra bellargus_. (Adonis Blue)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Credits: Kent, UK dot gov​
> In the book, _A World of Butterflies_, text by Brian Cassie, 2004, Chanticleer Press, p. 60. it says: "The Adonis Blue is one of many species of blues that is closely attended by ants during its larval stage. The ants feed on sweet secretions from the larvae's honeydew glands and they provide the immature insects with a measure of protection from predators. Adonis Blue caterpillars, which feed openly during the day, are almost always found in the company of ants. At times the ants even protect them at night by covering them over with a layer of soil."
> 
> I have the book in my private library at home. It's a small hardcover that has full-page sized butterfly photographs by photographer Kjell Sandved.



Not a butterfly but awesome nonetheless.

Actias luna


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## Grace

Love monarchs. And I get to see plenty of them during their migration. Can't see any leaves on the eucalyptus trees at all. It's nothing but butterflies.


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## Grace

Thought this vid would go well in this topic:


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## freedombecki

Momanohedhunter said:


> freedombecki said:
> 
> 
> 
> Butterflies and moths are like the beautiful flowers of the Animal Kingdom. This thread is for sharing photos, facts, and inspirational sightings of any member of the Lepidoptera family.
> 
> I'll start with a specie in my favorite color: _Lysandra bellargus_. (Adonis Blue)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Credits: Kent, UK dot gov​
> In the book, _A World of Butterflies_, text by Brian Cassie, 2004, Chanticleer Press, p. 60. it says: "The Adonis Blue is one of many species of blues that is closely attended by ants during its larval stage. The ants feed on sweet secretions from the larvae's honeydew glands and they provide the immature insects with a measure of protection from predators. Adonis Blue caterpillars, which feed openly during the day, are almost always found in the company of ants. At times the ants even protect them at night by covering them over with a layer of soil."
> 
> I have the book in my private library at home. It's a small hardcover that has full-page sized butterfly photographs by photographer Kjell Sandved.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not a butterfly but awesome nonetheless.
> 
> Actias luna
Click to expand...


The luna moth is though, Lepidoptera, and aren't they fabulous? My first sighting was at the age of 14 in the town of Bruni, TX, east of Laredo. I also saw one in 1970 at Casper, Wyoming. Those beautiful creatures have a real range.


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## freedombecki

Grace said:


> Thought this vid would go well in this topic:
> 
> http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c235/bmarsh/PostageStamp1BigBrother.jpg



Grace, what a fabulous butterfly addition. I had no idea one could repair a butterfly wing. What a wonderful veterinary entomologist's service!


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## Grace

I didn't know it could be done either until I ran across a butterfly that needed help. Then I went to youtube to see if it was possible and found that one


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## José

are

awesome!!​


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## freedombecki

José;3864605 said:
			
		

> are
> 
> awesome!!​


And so are your picture riddles, Jose. Butter + flies. Thanks!!!


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## freedombecki

See a lot of these kind of butterflies around..





Credits to tbone at photobucket.​


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## José

Hey, freedom

Since you seem to be an expert on the prettiest of insects (hands down) maybe you can answer me this question (couldn't find anything on the net):

People say the prettier a butterfly is the harder it is to catch her. Is there any truth to this story?


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## José

If so they are more or less like women.


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## Jos

*Half male, half female butterfly steals the show at Natural History Museum*




Half male, half female butterfly steals the show at Natural History Museum | Science | guardian.co.uk


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## Nate

The campus I work at just built a butterfly garden in the center(I thought it was an old English garden as overgrown as it was). Can't wait for fall, I was told we're in the Monarch migration path...


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## Douger

Luv'em.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lbrjJpO9b4&NR=1]&#x202a;color without pigment morpho butterfly blue wavelength&#x202c;&rlm; - YouTube[/ame]


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## Douger

This kid gets to keep her A
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEScMuG5cOM&feature=related]&#x202a;Sienna&#39;s Morpho Butterfly Documentary&#x202c;&rlm; - YouTube[/ame]


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## freedombecki

José;3864844 said:
			
		

> Hey, freedom
> 
> Since you seem to be an expert on the prettiest of insects (hands down) maybe you can answer me this question (couldn't find anything on the net):
> 
> People say the prettier a butterfly is the harder it is to catch her. Is there any truth to this story?



I don't know. This could be misinformation, but I was reading back some time ago if you pick up a butterfly, you could somehow damage its ability to fly right due to rearranging powdery chemicals on its wings. I've never read such a thing since, but since that time, I see one and just enjoy it flitting about, wherever it chooses, and if it chooses in front of my path, that's a good thing. If not, I just enjoyed the glimpse of a sweet, short gift. 

It might or might not be true, but it gave me an attitude I've abided by since.


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## freedombecki

Jos said:


> *Half male, half female butterfly steals the show at Natural History Museum*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Half male, half female butterfly steals the show at Natural History Museum | Science | guardian.co.uk



Ah, the infinite diversity of nature... *sigh*


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## freedombecki

Nate said:


> The campus I work at just built a butterfly garden in the center(I thought it was an old English garden as overgrown as it was). Can't wait for fall, I was told we're in the Monarch migration path...



Yes, Nate. I looked up their website and found this: 

*Butterfly Garden          *










​                  Butterflies, months, and skippers are some of the  most beautiful of all insects. Their striking appearance adds both color  and activity to the most pleasing of landscapes. They may be observed  more easily and closely than other species of wildlife. Months expand  the enjoyment time of your garden because they are active primarily  during the night, while butterflies and skippers are active during the  day. 
                 They belong to the Lepidoptera order and are  instrumental in pollinating plants, some specific to a single plant  species. Lepidopterans should be conserved and managed as they are an  essential component of both the animal food chain and the reproductive  process of plants. 



Sooner Butterfly Garden


It is something I'm sure my Oklahoma neighbors and friends are very proud of.


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## freedombecki

Douger said:


> Luv'em.
> &#x202a;color without pigment morpho butterfly blue wavelength&#x202c;&rlm; - YouTube



Thanks for sharing the fascinating You Tube photographic essay on morpho butterflies' shimmering blue color and how it could speed up and revolutionize the computer industry. 

It's hard to think of something so beautiful as a computer revolution, imho, but the truth is stranger than fiction sometimes.


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## freedombecki

Found a great site for attracting butterflies to your yard and garden:

What butterflies like

Excerpts (herbs butterflies like):

Yarrow, *Achillea             spp.*
Anise Hyssop, *Agastache             foeniculum *
Elephant Garlic, *Allium             ampeloprasum*
Chives, *Allium             schoenoprasum *
Dill, *Anethum             graveolens*
Angelica, * Angelica             spp.*
Wild Celery, *Apium             graveolens *
Dogbane, *Apocynum             cannabinum *
Caraway, *Carum carvi *
New Jersey Tea, *Ceanothus             americanus *
Queen Anne's Lace, *Daucus             carota *
Purple Coneflower, *Echinacea             purpurea *
Eupatorium, *Eupatorium             spp. *
Fennel, *Foeniculum             vulgare*
Cow Parsnip, *Heracleum             spp. *
Hyssop, *Hyssop             officinalis*
Lavender, *Lavedula             spp. *
Lovage, *Levisticum             officinale *
Mints, *Mentha spp. *
Bee Balm, *Mondara             didyma *
Wild Bergamot, *Monarda             fistulosa *
Horsemint, *Monarda             punctata *
Basil, *Ocimum spp.              *
Oregano, *Origanum             spp. *
Parsley, *Petroselinum             crispum*
Anise, *Pimpinella             anisum *
Plantain, *Plantago             spp. *
Rosemary, *Rosmarinus             spp. *
Scarlet Sage, *Salvia             cocinea *
Pineapple Sage, *Salvia             elegans *
Virginia Skullcap, * Scutellaria             laterifolia *
Thyme, *Thymus spp.* 
Culver's Root, *Veronicastrum             virginicum *
Chaste Tree, *Vitex             agnus-castus*
And if  you're lucky enough to live in Florida or the subtropics, there are many plants listed butterflies like.

Free milkweed seed for attracting the Monarch butterfly are here:

Free milkweed seeds

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Monarchs          need your help NOW! In the past  10 years,          over 75% of the wintering Monarchs from North America froze to death          in Mexico as a result of three days of rain and sub-freezing conditions.          They have sprung back in numbers but there is  a Nationwide shortage of milkweed. Freak weather patterns           destroy habitats and kill millions of helpless Monarchs. Habitat must          be protected now to ensure their survival, before we see the day when          this miracle of nature is only a memory. The Monarchs need your help NOW.          Please plant seeds and ensure their survival. A Milkweed in every yard![/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]*Instructions and address to send your self-addressed, stamped envelope at link above. Kids? They can enter a butterfly picture/idea contest here.
*[/FONT]

​


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## freedombecki

I'm really tempted to go back here and make this image into wallpaper on my desktop (scroll down 8 or so rows of gorgeous pictures down at link below:






Monarch Butterfly wallpaper here

Edit: oh, my gosh, I just want to look at my desktop now. I took the widescreen image for my desktop...it's better than good.

Tell me if ya took the plunge... ​


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## freedombecki

Oh, and if you missed, you might like to be as inspired by Douger's Morpho butterfly link as I was, by all means, go back to page one and click. You'll get an amazing lesson in butterfly color. Be sure and leave your thanks or rep him for that. Also, Grace's You tube repairing a butterfly wing documentary is the greatest! Thanks again, to each of them for stellar posts!


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## freedombecki

When I tested this wallpaper, it replaced my file on the Monarch butterfly. I had to log in here to see it. If I post this one, will it erase my wallpaper pic above?






Hmm seems to be the same in the posting area...

link

One of the problems I got after succumbing to fibromyalgia was something my doctor calls "dry eye syndrome." Online, changing colors frequently helps make some of the pain go away, and a soothing color like blue or green almost eliminates the symptoms. Just saying, in case someone else here has dry eyes after being online too long. I also changed the white on my browser to a soft light bluegreen. Very beneficial!​


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## freedombecki

Here's another source for a blue butterfly background on green:




​ 
Source for the above free wallpaper

This one has themes for wallpaper, many themes ...ahem... hem&haw ,../blush...  ​


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## Momanohedhunter

freedombecki said:


> Here's another source for a blue butterfly background on green:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ​
> Source for the above free wallpaper
> 
> This one has themes for wallpaper, many themes ...ahem... hem&haw ,../blush...  ​



Nice. My Son made a butterfly collection for Biology. He did not want to kill them so we went to Loves truck stop and pulled them from the front of the grill. He got props for that, and was a decent enough set of plates that his teacher asked if he could keep it. I will see if he has it and post it up.


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## Douger

I'm not a full time terrorist, Rebecca, When the topic is of interest, I get serious. Thank you for creating this post.


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## freedombecki

Momanohedhunter said:


> freedombecki said:
> 
> 
> 
> Here's another source for a blue butterfly background on green:
> 
> ​
> Source for the above free wallpaper
> 
> This one has themes for wallpaper, many themes ...ahem... hem&haw ,../blush...  ​
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice. My Son made a butterfly collection for Biology. He did not want to kill them so we went to Loves truck stop and pulled them from the front of the grill. He got props for that, and was a decent enough set of plates that his teacher asked if he could keep it. I will see if he has it and post it up.
Click to expand...


Thanks, Momanohedhunter. I hope you will get photographs of your son's work and post up. And one for your son's keeping. That needs to go into his book if he decides on having a family of his own. His kids would love it. Use good lifetime paper. Some of our old family pictures are lackluster these days, and some of the best ones are post WWII in B&W. A few of the color ones are ok, but not many.


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## freedombecki

Douger said:


> I'm not a full time terrorist, Rebecca, When the topic is of interest, I get serious. Thank you for creating this post.



I lean toward ornithology myself, but I thought Lepidoptera would be fun for a change. So far, so good. Hope you will add _*anything*_ in the moth/butterfly/etc. realm you run across to this thread. If your interests are reflected in the blue color lecture of the Morph blue butterfly You Tube you shared, you have a nose for the scientific. Also, I'm becki, not Rebecca. My mama named me after two grandmas but decided to call me "becki" from the cradle. I did a little family tree research just a few months ago, and found both my big brother and I got our nicknames from an aunt and uncle one of my grandparents. She never told me that. nor why. She's been gone almost 40 years. *sigh*


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## freedombecki

Today, I found Red Glider from West Africa in another favorite color of mine. Aka Cymothose coccinata, they love fermenting fruit juice found in the wild, according to my little hardback, "A World of Butterflies" by Brian Cassie for Bulfinch Press of New York and Boston.

Red Glider

_Cymothose coccinata_​ 





Credits to Butterfly Utopia.​


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## freedombecki

Well, one more red butterfly before I hit the road...

This one, too, was at Butterfly Utopia.

_Callicore cynosura






_CreditsI found one yesterday that truly had a unique shape, all red, but it wasn't online today, at least not in Bing.

Okay, two for the road...






I think you can actually order this, but I'm not certain. Credits​


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## freedombecki

Note: Interactive Listing of Mexican Butterflies (click on scientific name and see at link)

Found this interesting fellow (above): the Mexican Kite-Swallowtail


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## freedombecki

I've been wanting to post the largest butterfly in the world since yesterday, but it's been a little busy around here.

Queen Alexandra's Birdwing butterfly is probably on the endangered list, and is found in New Guinea. It is dimorphic, and the male looks like this:





The Female (below) is said to be somewhat larger than the male. A New Guinea man shows the 10-to 12" size of the female. It is said they fly like birds, thus are called "birdwings."
​


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## Jos

One of my favorites 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



I have 7, 5 male's and 2 females


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## Jos

Troides helena


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## freedombecki

Jos said:


> One of my favorites
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have 7, 5 male's and 2 females



Wow, Jos. That's a beautiful Rajah Brooke's Birdwing butterfly. I found another image at Wikipedia that includes the female, but it doesn't say how large it is. Surely it is huge.






Credits It would be helpful if the photographers would put a measuring tape across the field of view to show the wingspan of these amazing _arthropodae._


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## freedombecki

Jos said:


> Troides helena



Wow, what an attractive fellow. this common birdwing. He's a showstopper. Again, I wish we knew his size.


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## Jos

about the above size
Both are about 12 cm, if you spread your hand out, from thumb to little finger across, I never really counted them before today, I have 97 on my wall plus about the same amount of insects, the largest being a stick insect 12 inches long with another 6 inches of front legs, I bought them during my travels in Malaysia, when I came across a breeding center which mounts them to sell when they die, it pays for the breeding program so many can be released to the wild


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## freedombecki

Jos said:


> about the above size
> Both are about 12 cm, if you spread your hand out, from thumb to little finger across, I never really counted them before today, I have 97 on my wall plus about the same amount of insects, the largest being a stick insect 12 inches long with another 6 inches of front legs, I bought them during my travels in Malaysia, when I came across a breeding center which mounts them to sell when they die, it pays for the breeding program so many can be released to the wild



Wow, Jos. Are you an entomologist or lepidopterist? Not that many people go to Maylaysia and come home with a bevy of huge  exotic butterflies and walking sticks.


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## freedombecki

I went shopping online today. I'm gonna make a butterfly quilt with machine embroidered cross stitch by the one and only Ms. Giancanna of Vermillion Stitcheries:







Credits

I can't wait till the cd gets here so I can load it into my embroidery machine software and stitch these little beauties out.


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## mudwhistle




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## mudwhistle




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## mudwhistle




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## freedombecki

mudwhistle said:


>



wow, Mudwhistle. This one is a knockout! He's all red white and blue...


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## freedombecki

"Rainbow Lepidoptera" Thanks to my Guild sister, JM for snapping this to her iphone and sending it to me to post until I figure out (1) the camera(2) the scanner/printer 
I finished it about an hour and a half ago, and it's already in the Charity Bees closet. It's a twin-sized quilt and will go to a child in a shelter for abused families.
​


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## freedombecki

Purple by far seems to be the hardest color to track in butterflies. However, today I persevered and found a couple of notable exceptions: 

Colorado Hairstreak, Hypaurotis crysalus crysalus






It is a butterfly of Southeastern Arizona and is of the Subfamily Thyclinae, Family of Lycaenidae.

Another purplish butterfly is the Marine Blue, _Leptotes marina_ :






This one, I love: Western tailed blue, _Everes amyntula_ _herrii_:






Credit for photos is here​


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## freedombecki

Interactive Listing of American Butterflies at Butterflies of America website.


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## freedombecki

From NSW, Australia, Hartley Valley has a lovely rare specimen, the purple copper butterfly:





Find more about the butterfly here​


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## freedombecki

Omigoodness, there's a purple emperor butterfly in Australia, also, that I just found here:






They say it's a brown butterfly that in certain light, refracts the color purple. Oh, I'm so impressed with the photographer at the link above.​


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## freedombecki

For some reason, my little hardback, entitled "A World of Butterflies" fell open to page 135, The Bhutan Glory _Bhutanitis lidderdalei_, and I have been oogling it since yesterday. It has a 4" wingspan or better and sports long wings as you can see below. I have to quote Brian Cassie, the author, because I've never seen this one since it is a native of Bhutan, India, Myanmar, thailand, and southern China, places I've not been. Mr Cassie says:

The Bhutan Swallowtails comprise a group of four very similar-looking and extraordinary species. _B. lidderdalei_ is the most widespread and abundant of the clan but is still a good find in the field. It has a rather weak fluttery flight and is said to be easily buffeted around by mountain breezes. The few observers who have gotten close enough to this butterfly to take a sniff of it say it has a delightful fragrance.
​The image below has credits here:






Not sure if I can find another site as good as "Tree of Life" organization.​


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## freedombecki

While I was dinking around at TOL (Tree of Life.org), I found a beautifully-shaped Colombian butterfly, visual artistry, _Idioneurula erebioides_:





Source with credits

Oh, my I'm so fascinated with aesthetically shaped animals, positive and negative spaces that make the artist's eye go nuts. This is one of those fascinating creatures I must know more about. Naturally, I'm a poor Spanish-speaking scholar lately, but it'd be worth a month of study to know more about this magnificent small creature.​


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## freedombecki

*Idioneurula donegani *
Credits, the Natural History Museum, UK






_Idioneurula donegani_ is mainly found in páramos (high elevation habitats). 
Credits for photo: B. Huertes     ​
                    This new species was discovered recently  in one of the highest peaks of Colombia&#8217;s Serranía de los Yariguíes. To  explore these mountains, the Museum&#8217;s butterfly curator Blanca Huertas  and her team were dropped by helicopter on an isolated peak at 3,000  metres above sea level.
This exploration and many new species discoveries help with the creation of a national park by the Colombian government. 

The type specimen of the new species remains in Colombia&#8217;s main scientific collections in Instituto Alexander von Humboldt.


Species detail
Images
                      All known species of _Idioneurula_ are rather similar in  appearance. They are small-medium sized, plain brown butterflies with a  variable number of ocelli on their hind wings. Patterns on the ventral  hind wings vary considerably intraspecifically in some species.





 
All known species of _Idioneurula_ are similar in appearance.
​_Idioneurula_  species are found mainly in high  elevation habitats (páramos) of Colombia and Venezuela, but their  complete range is not known due to a lack of collecting initiatives in  high elevations in the region (which itself is partially due to  historical security concerns).
It is possible that other species in the genus could remain undiscovered (e.g. in the Serranía de Perijá).  
Host  plants also remain unknown for some species, although Poaceae is the  usual host plant of Satyrinae (DeVries, 1987; Ackery 1988; Robinson et  al. 2002).
_Idioneurula_  are small to medium sized  butterflies with a rather triangular-shaped forewing, plain brown  coloured wings, no markings on the dorsal forewing, at least one ocellus  on the lower border of the dorsal hindwing, such ocelli generally black  with a yellow or orange border and white centre spot, no marked sexual  dimorphism high elevation distribution in the East Andes.



 *Distribution *


 *Etymology *


 *Molecular analyses *


 *Conservation *

       ************
Hopefully, this will illustrate how little we know about our own planet until someone parachutes into a remote area of the world seldom explored by dedicated entomologists and other scientists who record their findings as best they can.


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## freedombecki

freedombecki said:


> For some reason, my little hardback, entitled "A World of Butterflies" fell open to page 135, The Bhutan Glory _Bhutanitis lidderdalei_, and I have been oogling it since yesterday. It has a 4" wingspan or better and sports long wings as you can see below. I have to quote Brian Cassie, the author, because I've never seen this one since it is a native of Bhutan, India, Myanmar, thailand, and southern China, places I've not been. Mr Cassie says:
> The Bhutan Swallowtails comprise a group of four very similar-looking and extraordinary species. _B. lidderdalei_ is the most widespread and abundant of the clan but is still a good find in the field. It has a rather weak fluttery flight and is said to be easily buffeted around by mountain breezes. The few observers who have gotten close enough to this butterfly to take a sniff of it say it has a delightful fragrance.
> ​The image below has credits here:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure if I can find another site as good as "Tree of Life" organization.​


This post is actually an edit after the fact. Sometimes I see it, sometimes, I don't see the graphic. So there may be two images, same source as above, maybe not. This butterfly is so rare, there are very very few images. Maybe someone else will come along with a clear picture of this creature in his natural environs. If so, thanks ahead of time.


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## freedombecki

Oh, yay!!! My new book got here from Amazon.com today: "One Hundred Butterflies," Feinstein. All the illustrations are HUGE!







This is just one pic.
The book is a real piece of eye-candy with this 8" enlarged butterfly on the cover. It has to be the most beautiful book in the entire world. The small tear on the cover was not as large as the seller claimed, and I got it for a song at Amazon. If you are an entomologist, you owe this tome to yourself and loved ones who don't get it why you love the beasties in Phylum _Arthropoda_. They will when they see this master work of beauty on your desk or table in your den. 
Source: Calculating the Beauty of Butterflies​


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## freedombecki

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0swiD1SxQwo&feature=player_detailpage"]&#x202a;Butterflies!&#x202c;&rlm; - YouTube[/ame]


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## freedombecki

Today, I found some great new butterfly and moth links:

This one was recommended by the USGS Butterfly Page as new site for identification of butterflies and moths: Butterflies and Moths of North America | collecting and sharing data about Lepidoptera


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## freedombecki

This evening I went scouting around for images of a Luna Moth that are copyright free. The "dotorg" website I visited requests no transfers of their images, so I found others that are "royalty-free" for the price of posting a link back to the website. The one I am adding below is such an image, and it is now on my desktop. Its host if you would like to change wall papers to this huge moth that averages 3-6" in width and can be just as long if not longer than that. I swear I saw the largest moth in the world when I was growing up in a town called Bruni, Texas, which is around forty miles east of Laredo. It was the biggest, most beautiful specie I'd ever seen, and I couldn't believe it was a real butterfly--and it wasn't. It was a moth, of course. Thanks to desktopart.org for the free desktop luna moth. A thumbnail is below.


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## freedombecki

*Luna moth
Actias luna (Linnaeus, 1758)*

 
Family: Saturniidae 
Subfamily: Saturniinae 
Identification:  Hindwings have long curving tails. Wings are pale green, each with a  transparent eyespot. Outer margins are pink in the southern spring  brood, yellow in the southern summer brood and in northern populations.

Life History: Adults  are very strong fliers and are attracted to lights. Mating takes place  after midnight, and egg-laying begins that evening. Females lay eggs in  small groups or singly on both surfaces of host plant leaves. The eggs  hatch in about one week and the caterpillars are sedentary and solitary  feeders. Leaves and silk are used to spin papery brown cocoons in litter  under the host plant.

Wing Span: 2 15/16 - 4 1/8 inches (7.5 - 10.5 cm). 
Caterpillar Hosts: A  variety of trees including white birch (Betula papyrifera), persimmon  (Diospyros virginiana), sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua), hickories  (Carya), walnuts (Juglans), and sumacs (Rhus).

Adult Food: Adults do not feed. 
Habitat: Deciduous hardwood forests. 
Range: Common. Nova Scotia west to Saskatchewan and eastern North Dakota; south to central Florida, the Gulf Coast, and eastern Texas.

Conservation: Not usually required.

NCGR: G5 - Demonstrably secure globally, though it may be quite rare in parts of its range, especially at the periphery.

Source: Butterflies and Moths of North America org

The images at the website above are many and _muy fabuloso!_ So if you want a real treat, check them out by clicking on the images at the link. It's worth the trip to there. enjoy!

The attached image can be placed on your desktop. Our eyes get tired of seeing the samo-samo, and the free desktop download is here.


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## Ernie S.

If you ever find yourself in South Florida, head for the city of Deerfield Beach and visit Butterfly World. Well worth the trip. If you get there at the right time, they may let you release butterflies emerging from their chrysalis.


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## freedombecki

Wow, Ernie S. I went to your link above. What an incredible place! Years ago, I visited two Florida butterfly gardens, but nothing as spectacular as your link. I especially enjoyed the virtual tour as well as the store that sells all kinds of seeds to plants butterflies love.


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## freedombecki

And today's butterfly is....

Not sure of the name, but it was posted at the pacific science center. Click on the link or image below to see the full size.

Can anyone share its name?


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## freedombecki

Purple Mountain Emperor
_Graphium weiski_

Found in the mountains of New Guinea, the Purple Mountain Emperor is thought to be one of the world's most beautiful butterflies. It is on page 146 of Brian Cassie's A WORLD OF BUTTERFLIES, 2004, Chanticleer Press. This tiny tome has 419 pages and measures about 5x6x1.5", more or less. If you load Graphium weiski into Bing! and click on Images, you will see there are several color variations, all of which are neon and quite beautiful. One source said it is only in the Owen Stanley Mountains of New Guinea, and another states the butterfly is throughout _Australis_, showing Australia, New Guinea, and several other surrounding islands in the range. ​


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## freedombecki

One other coloration I noticed in several of the images is purple, thus the common name, Purple Mountain Butterfly, I guess. It was fun surfing the web for _Graphium weiski_.


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## freedombecki

[FONT=georgia, bookman old style, palatino linotype, book antiqua, palatino, trebuchet ms, helvetica, garamond, sans-serif, arial, verdana, avante garde, century gothic, comic sans ms, times, times new roman, serif]Happiness  is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp,  but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.  ~Nathaniel  Hawthorne[/FONT]


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## freedombecki

I was reading around the web about some common flowers butterflies really love:

Yarrow 
Aster
Listria 
Shasta Daisy 
Black-eyed Susan 
Scabiosa 
Coreopsis 
Butterfly Weed 
Chives 
Catmint 
Marigold 
Ageratum
milkweed

In case anyone wants to attract butterflies to their gardens or land.


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## freedombecki

Today, I opened my new book, "100 Butterflies" by Harold Feinstein. I noticed a very beautiful picture of White Morpho aka _Morpho polyphemus_. When I looked online to find one like it, I did and found  this page that shows many Morphos, white and blue in color. I'm going to show two whites, (attached thumbnail) Morpho polyphemus, (two attached images,) _Morpho catenarius_, and one blue, _Morpho amathante._

Hope you like them.


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## freedombecki

I loved Morpho Catenarius of all the white morphos, it had the best details. The website above shows male and female of all the morphos it describes, and I'm including the fremale _Morpho Catenarius_, and two truly beautiful Blue Morphos, the male and female _Morpho cipris_.

Again, there are many other truly pretty Morphs here.

This is going to use up my VW free space for images for a week. *sigh*


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## freedombecki

Last week, a box appeared at the front door. It contained a copy of "Butterflies of the World" by photographer Giles Martin and published by Abrams, New York, translated from the French by Simon Jones with truly amazing photographs by Giles Martin. Needless to mention, it shows the best of the world's butterflies in full living color and proves that even caterpillars can be showy. If you love all aspects of zoology, this would be the one book I'd recommend for you to share your love of the Kingdom of Lepidoptera. Ten percent of all insects belong to this kingdom, made popular by the habit of beautiful butterflies flitting about during the daytime, often going from flower to flower to sip sweet nectar. Actually, they're outnumbered by their nocturnal brethren, the moths, which can be quite pretty in their own right. I couldn't recommend more highly any book for inclusion into the botanist's repetoire of books as well, since so many plants depend on butterflies for pollination in their reproduction cycle, and a threat to a butterfly specie can also end a plant kingdom's member's survival.

Every little thing in nature seems dependent on the act or being of other species. Butterflies add a special dimension to the diversity we enjoy as living beings on this planet. Still planning my next butterfly quilt, too. 

Link to Amazon who shows a larger picture of the cover and gives background information on the book [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Butterflies-World-Gilles-Martin/dp/0810959534/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1313964224&sr=8-2"]Butterflies of the World[/ame].


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## freedombecki

This morning, I ran into a truly large specie of Lepidoptera, _Thysania agrippina_, or the White Witch Moth:






Apparently it is the widest-winged insect in the world and ranges from Mexico to Central America. I'd appreciate it if anyone who likes entomology and loves the unusual type of insect might confirm this? Thanks.


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## freedombecki

Callophrys rubi was my choice of the green butterflies I looked for today. They're kind of beautiful and wonderful, all rolled into one. Thanks to TrekNature, a great series of pages from all over the world bragging some of the most beautiful scenery, flowers, insects, birds, mammals, and reptiles imaginable.




source page and credits​


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## freedombecki

Sheridan's Green Hairstreak is the Wyoming State Butterfly
 aka [SIZE=-1]* Lycaenidae Theclinae Callophrys sheridani neoperplexa*[/SIZE]





a netstate web page

From ova to pupae in picture of 
* Lycaenidae Theclinae Callophrys sheridani neoperplexa*​


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## freedombecki

Oh yes, and the green hairstreaks tend to be a bland brown, blackish, or gray color on their top sides.


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## freedombecki

There is a very good introductory page to the Order Lepidoptera at Texas A and M website. The school is located in Bryan, Texas, which is a couple of county hops west of where I live. It has been a grueling summer, and I think it has been very hard on butterflies. It's the hottest, dryest summer Texas has had on record, and the drought here shows our small manmade lake has shrunk almost to the size of a pond, and it was down about 6 feet from its usual height, and an acre less in size than it was this spring. We had an unusually cold winter this past year, but it had a little less rainfall than normal. I wasn't worried until July, when there was less than 10 minutes of rain that fell only one day, and people not far from here got nothing, so it must've just been a little small cloud. It may have saved the only stand of truly tall pines we had left since two years ago in June, a stand of 5 tall pines died after suffering the hottest June on record, and probably too much dry weather that spring of 2009.

Anyway, I'm sorry to report no sightings of butterflies recently, and no pictures as a consequence. Oh, the lovely page on Lepidoptera at TAMU is here, and I'd like to share at least one paragraph that I found helpful on the caterpillar stage of metamorphosis in Lepidoptera:



> Immature stages (larvae)  are known as caterpillars. Names like cutworms, armyworms, hornworms and  many others apply to groups of caterpillars that may be related  taxonomically or by similar biology. Their mouthparts are formed for  chewing. The well developed head capsule has short antennae. On the  front of the face of caterpillars is an groove or suture shaped like an  inverted "V." On caterpillars there is a second suture called an  adfrontal suture just under the "V." Almost all have crochets (small  hooks) on the prolegs even if the prolegs are reduced. These hooks help  the caterpillar hold onto the substrate. Caterpillars feed on foliage,  stored products, linens. Some are leafminers and a few are borers in  herbaceous and woody plants.
> Most Lepidoptera feed on leaves of plants in  the larval stage. Some caterpillars bore in plant stems, others are  leafminers and a few are ever predators. All Lepidoptera have complete  metamorphosis. Microlepidoptera are often under 1/4 inch, the largest  moths and butterflies are over 3 inches.



Hope you will read the page listed. Butterflies are much fun, and there's a link on the page that takes you through individuals in Lepidoptera, both common and scientific names, foods the specie likes, pictures of stages of metamorphosis, a description, life cycles, and whether it is a pest to certain crops or not. Enjoy the page and its door-opening links.


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## freedombecki

Fabriholics collect fabrics of their favorite things...


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## freedombecki

Yesterday, I noticed a swarm of teeny tiny butterflies around a weed out in the pasture and was most amused. So often you see only one or two butterflies flitting about, but this was too much in a square yard, there were maybe 30 of the miniature creatures flitting from blossom to blossom but having just as much fun as their larger brethren.

Dainty Sulphur
_Nathalis iole_






I know so little of butterflies, but I thought it was so special to see the little chartreuse-winged cuties having the time of their lives yesterday. 
A little more on the Dainty Sulphur is here. Their wings were the size of my small finger's nail, 7mm x 9mm, less than an inch across the pair (give or take a few mms. They made my trip to the field a totally happy experience. 

This year for the drought, we had to mow down everything due to the threat of fire, and the butterflies responded by not showing up except close to the lake. A couple of days after a night rain, the Dainty Sulphurs showed up. What a joy they were. There is a small meadow at the back of our land between the fence and a seasonal creek, where deer like to stay (you can see their hollowed-out resting areas in the day hours), and we left it strictly alone because it's so small) Hopefully butterflies had at least a corner of the world to call their own most of the time so all the butterflies will come back next year. 

This is our third summer season that just passed, and next year I'm mowing avenues through the fields only. Something came up from areas we tilled for the garden, and at first, I thought the plants were milkweed. I'm not for sure, but what came up could be known as Jimson weed, which I think is a noxious weed. At this point, I'm rethinking noxious because butterflies in any given area tend to be fond of what grows there with no prompting.

I'm not a hundred percent sure the above butterfly is what I was seeing, but if that changes, I'll come back with the corrected specie. They seemed a lot more on the sulphur than the green side, but maybe it was a couple of days ago and the memory is not as clear as when I first took a deep breath on the sight of the cheerful little beasties.​


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## freedombecki

My bad!!!

The Dainty Sulphur is described here. It's not the specie I saw that was so tiny. The Dainty Sulphur is 3 inches across, not 10 or 12 mm.

When I searched for "tiny Texas butterfly" I never dreamed I'd be reading about a 3" wingspan creature, since many truly beautiful butterflies of our meadows are 2" across, and while small, I'd not call them tiny. So much for perception between me and others! lol


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## Kimmie

Butterflies are always so pretty. Just thinking the differences of butterflies in every countries.


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## freedombecki

Finally found a picture of a butterfly quilt I made a few years back, then sold to someone who said he wanted a quilt gift for someone who likes red. 





​


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## freedombecki

The Gulf Frittilary Butterfly life cycle






Gulf Fritillary







credits​


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## freedombecki

The Gulf Fritillary is a striking, bright orange  butterfly of the family Nymphalidae and subfamily Heliconiinae. It was  formerly classified in a separate family, the Heliconiidae or longwing  butterflies, and like other longwings it does have long, rather narrow  wings in comparison with other butterflies. It is not closely related to  the true fritillaries. It is a medium to large butterfly, with a  wingspan of from 6 to 9.5 cm. Its underwings are buff, with large  silvery spots. It takes its name from the fact that migrating flights of  the butterflies are sometimes seen over the Gulf of Mexico.


The  Gulf Fritillary is commonly seen in parks and gardens, as well as in  open country. Its range extends from Argentina through Central America  Mexico, and the West Indies to the southern United States, as far north  as the San Francisco Bay Area on the west coast. It is occasionally  found further north in the US.












credits


Awesome page.​


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## freedombecki

Have a lovely Christmas, everyone.
photo credits​


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## freedombecki

This year, I noticed that not only does the Audubon Society publish the best bird calendar in the whole world, their butterfly calendar is a winner, too. I ordered both of them and placed the butterfly one where we write doctor's appointments and when to pay bills in the kitchen. January's most beautiful, large image of a butterfly (all of them really,) displayed most prominently is _Panacea procilla_, a fabulous blue butterfly that flits about from Panama to the Amazon River basin. I think I fell in love with blue (again). 





Photo credits​


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## freedombecki

The 2011 and 2012 Calendars from the Audubon Society:









​


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## freedombecki

*Fun Butterfly Facts:*




​                          We have gathered some strange butterfly facts to                         share with you. Amaze your friends! Enjoy!


Butterflies range in size from a tiny 1/8 inch                               to a huge almost 12 inches.
Butterflies can see red, green, and yellow.
Some people say that when the black bands on the                               Woolybear caterpillar are wide, a cold winter is                               coming.
The top butterfly flight speed is 12 miles per                               hour. Some moths can fly 25 miles per hour!
Monarch butterflies journey from the Great Lakes                               to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of about 2,000                               miles, and return to the north again in the                               spring.
Butterflies cannot fly if their body temperature                               is less than 86 degrees.
Representations of butterflies are seen in                               Egyptian frescoes at Thebes, which are 3,500 years                               old.
Antarctica is the only continent on which no                               Lepidoptera have been found.
There are about 24,000 species of butterflies.                               The moths are even more numerous: about 140,000                               species of them were counted all over the world.
The Brimstone butterfly (Gonepterix rhamni) has                               the longest lifetime of the adult butterflies:                               9-10 months.
Some Case Moth caterpillars (Psychidae) build a                               case around themselves that they always carry with                               them. It is made of silk and pieces of plants or                               soil.
The caterpillars of some Snout Moths (Pyralididae)                               live in or on water-plants.
The females of some moth species lack wings, all                               they can do to move is crawl.
The Morgan's Sphinx Moth from Madagascar has a                               proboscis (tube mouth) that is 12 to 14 inches                               long to get the nectar from the bottom of a 12                               inch deep orchid discovered by Charles Darwin.
Some moths never eat anything as adults because                               they don't have mouths. They must live on the                               energy they stored as caterpillars.
Many butterflies can taste with their feet to                               find out whether the leaf they sit on is good to                               lay eggs on to be their caterpillars' food or not.
There are more types of insects in one tropical                               rain forest tree than there are in the entire                               state of Vermont.
In 1958 Entomologist W.G. Bruce published a list                               of Arthropod references in the Bible. The most                               frequently named bugs from the Bible are: Locust:                               24, Moth: 11, Grasshopper: 10, Scorpion: 10,                               Caterpillar: 9, and Bee: 4.
People eat insects  called "Entomophagy"(people                               eating bugs)  it has been practiced for                               centuries throughout Africa, Australia, Asia, the                               Middle East, and North, Central and South America.                               Why? Because many bugs are both protein-rich and                               good sources of vitamins, minerals and fats.
YOU can eat bugs! Try the "Eat-A-Bug                               Cookbook" by David George Gordon , 10 Speed                               Press. Dont want to cook them yourself? Go to                               HotLix                                for all sorts of insect goodies! My favorites are                               "Cricket-lickits"  a flavored                               sucker with a real edible cricket inside.
Many                               insects can carry 50 times their own body weight.                               This would be like an adult person lifting two                               heavy cars full of people.
There are over a million described species of                               insects. Some people estimate there are actually                               between 15 and 30 million species.
Most insects are beneficial to people because                               they eat other insects, pollinate crops, are food                               for other animals, make products we use (like                               honey and silk) or have medical uses.
Butterflies and insects have their skeletons on                               the outside of their bodies, called the                               exoskeleton. This protects the insect and keeps                               water inside their bodies so they dont dry out



​


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## freedombecki

The Butterfly Site Dot Com has a lot of butterfly coloring book pages that can be fun to color "Free Butterfly Coloring Pages"

They have pages and bookmarks. Here are one of each at the link above:

*Buckeye Butterfly*







*Color a Butterfly Bookmark*






There are quite a few butterfly pictures, and the Butterfly Site suggests they can be used as stencils, also. Enjoy!​


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## mudwhistle




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## mudwhistle




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## freedombecki

mudwhistle said:


>


Wow, Mudwhistle. That one reminds me of hummingbird moths that used to hang around the honeysuckles in our home of 25 years in Wyoming. Thanks for sharing it.





credits at a cool website

And your other two moths' closeup shots? You have an eye for the strange and the beautiful, mudwhistle. ​


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## freedombecki

Butterflies and Moths of North America | collecting and sharing data about Lepidoptera -For some of the best images of your favorite species of Lepidoptera.

This one is named the Red-spotted Purple Butterfly and is found from Tennessee to Texas, maybe more states than that. He's fun, because his spots are underneath his beautiful blue wings as you will see below:
top view, _Limenitis arthemis astyanax_





underside view, _Limenitis arthemis astyanax_





and does he ever have a crazy-looking caterpillar







photo credits​


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## Conservative

The Monarch has always been my favorite.


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## freedombecki

Conservative said:


> The Monarch has always been my favorite.


I love Monarchs too, Conservative. Last summer was so dry, I only saw one, and it was late after our first fall rain. Thanks for sharing the pic.


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## freedombecki

Luminous butterflies from China...




credits​


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## freedombecki

I was looking for named species of Chinese butterflies. Apparently there is an enormously wonderful group at the Glasshouse at Wisley, the UK of tropical zone butterflies, China and elsewhere.

They offer a wonderful tour of the facility here with people enjoying the beautiful creatures:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F49nVtz-VCs"]Butterflies in the Glasshouse at RHS Garden Wisley - YouTube[/ame]​


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## freedombecki

Spring will be here momentarily. We're already seeing an abundance of green, little sweet purple and white carpet-style flowers in the field and around the pond, and nonstop green grasses due to much-needed spring rains. I took the tractor out, and in some places by the fence, the grass was knee-high and thicker than thieves. This morning I was contemplating our good fortune after last year's horrid summer of drought and a 60-day stretch of unrelenting 100F+ higher temperatures. I've never seen such a summer deadly to our beautiful tall pines of the piney woods.

This morning, I was wondering what spring butterflies we might enjoy seeing soon. (I've already met a couple of mosquitoes, quite uncommon for February, and need to up the ante on thiamine uptake forthwith.) Anyway, I went to Bing! and found a number of websites giving "spring" butterflies as this that or the other. The last butterflies I remember following the drought were teeny, tiny sulphurs with wings the size  of a lady-s trim pinkie fingernail. They were this fluttery pale green color. What next? Well, I'm not sure what we will see bordering the piney woods, but I think I will pick up my nature walks out back and scan for that elusive first member of the lepidoptera family flitting about in cool fields--if there is such a thing, that is. In the meantime, the first website I opened had a monarch butterfly as a spring habitue of our area. I think it's a little early for those, but ya never know, really. Anyway, FWIW, one site cited the mourning cloak butterfly, but the picture is a flickr, which I don't think you can share, so I listed the link on the name of the creature. They too mentioned the azure butterfly, along with a pic of its white and black speckled underwing in raised position.

here's a view or two... Photo credits at Wikipedia


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## freedombecki

Calendar moth and bird for the day are both blue. The National Audubon Society puts out really terrific calendars that show a bird a day on one and a butterfly a day on the other. I'm lucky enough to have both calendars for 2012.

It's hard to tell from the pictures on my calendar the size of the Blue Morpho, but it seems to be 5 to 7 inches. It dwells in South and Central America and parts of Mexico.





photo credits at TrekNature



> As its common name implies, the blue morpho butterflys wings are bright  blue, edged with black. The blue morpho is among the largest  butterflies in the world, with wings spanning from five to eight inches.  Their vivid, iridescent blue coloring is a result of the microscopic  scales on the backs of their wings, which reflect light. The underside  of the morphos wings, on the other hand, is a dull brown color with  many eyespots, providing camouflage against predators such as birds and  insects when its wings are closed. When the blue morpho flies, the  contrasting bright blue and dull brown colors flash, making it look like  the morpho is appearing and disappearing. The males wings are broader  than those of the females and appear to be brighter in color. Blue  morphos, like other butterflies, also have two clubbed antennas, two  fore wings and two hind wings, six legs and three body segments -- the  head, thorax and abdomen.



Also, with the disappearing rain forest areas of the tropics, the blue morpho is becoming a threatened specie. 

​


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## freedombecki

credits and enchanting story of the Amazon forest​


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## Douger

freedombecki said:


> credits and enchanting story of the Amazon forest​


That aint the Amazon. I can walk to that tree in under an hour.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZReIyb2BB8]the blue butterfly legend (Costa Rican Rain Forest), la mariposa azul - YouTube[/ame]


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## freedombecki

a Flight of The Butterfly symphony

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdkWomKyDgk"]Flight Of The Butterfly - Canon XHA1 HD Video - YouTube[/ame]​


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## freedombecki

California Butterflies
(recommend)

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y54_Du9ZE8I]720p HD California Butterflies in the Field 2008 - YouTube[/ame]​


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## Douger

Photo from my bedroom window.


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## freedombecki

Turning the sound to low might be more enjoyable... or not. To each his own. 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC7UGEptluk]Exotic Spieces of Butterflies - YouTube[/ame]​


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## freedombecki

Enchanting butterflies

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJMWMMc-MG8]Butterfly.. - YouTube[/ame]​


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## freedombecki

Yesterday, I was out looking around and into my path flew a lovely young monarch butterfly. I have to say, my heart was in my throat for a few moments. No one has mentioned monarchs for quite some time here, I don't think, so for those who are not acquainted with the species here's a visual:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfsKPoM7wkU]Monarch Migration - Texas Parks and Wildlife [Official] - YouTube[/ame]​


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## freedombecki

Saw a little butterfly like this one, except smaller. there were a lot of them, seems the markings were different, some had more brown color on the wings than others, but they shared similar flight paths, same floral preferences, etc. This one was photographed 50 miles south of here, but the image is so large, I can't tell if it's the same one. Our little ones are between 2 and 3 inches from tip to tip, and their orange colors and edge patterns absolutely jump out when they are flitting about, looking for a sweet flower with nectar or whatever. 




Credits here​


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## freedombecki

I've been seeing a lot of these brilliant orange butterflies around the flowering summer shrubs in the spring wash area. Seems to be hundreds of them. The closest one in looks I could find is called "Orange Julia." Ours are just a tad more intense orange with no whitish spotches at all, but so showy you can't miss them, and they are just everywhere. They're eye candy!





credits​


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## freedombecki

_Phoebis sennae_ - Cloudless Sulphur

This short movie shows parts of the Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) butterfly's life cycle in time lapse. Scenes include larvae moving around on the host plant,  larva shedding its final skin to pupate (part of the metamorphosis  process), and finally emerging as an adult butterfly.​
[ame=http://youtu.be/GTUgUEpqBrA]Time Lapse - Phoebis sennae Butterfly Pupates-Emerges - YouTube[/ame]


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## freedombecki

Blue Morphos emerge

Victoria Butterfly Gardens​
I've been here, and it's the most wonderful place for butterflies with total attention to their comfort and environment. People love it, too.

[ame=http://youtu.be/94AS7yyb_CE]Morpho - From Chrysalis to Butterfly - YouTube[/ame]


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## freedombecki

Blue Morpho butterfly
_Morpho peleides_






The Blue Morpho Butterfly  lives in the tropical rainforests of Latin  America. As one might expect from  its name, the butterfly has bright  blue wings with a black border. Underneath,  the wing is brown, which  helps the Blue Morpho Butterfly to blend into the  environment and hide  from predators. The brown against the blue coloring also  causes a flying Blue Morpho to seemingly disappear and reappear as its wings go  up and down. Butterflies do not actually  have pigmentation. Their wings are actually  transparent and the colors we see  come from scales on the back of the  wings which reflect light. The Blue Morpho  Butterfly is one of the  world&#8217;s largest butterflies with a wingspan of 5 to 8  inches. The male  butterfly is larger than the female. It is one of 80 different  types of  Morpho butterflies.

These colorful butterflies  begin as an egg which is laid on the leaves of rainforest plants.  When the larva or caterpillar  emerges from the egg, it is  brightly colored in reds and yellows. There are  stiff hairs on its head  that can irritate a human hand or anything else that  touches them.  After the caterpillar has eaten for several weeks it forms the  pupa,  which is green and shaped like an egg. By the time the adult Blue Morpho   Butterfly erupts from the pupa, it will have less than a month to  live. The Blue Morpho Butterfly  lives for the most part in the lower  parts of the rainforest, in shrubs and on  the forest floor. When  looking for a mate the butterfly will fly to all parts  of the  rainforest, and like most butterflies their entire adult focus is on   reproduction. Although they live longer than many butterflies, the Blue  Morpho  still only has a lifespan of 115 days.


More at butterfly-facts dot com
​


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## freedombecki

And this year, I finally got one of my butterfly designs sewed out for the first time onto a charity quilt...


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## freedombecki

Butterflies are free 

[ame=http://youtu.be/DTsoGCP1kZE]Butterflies are Free - YouTube[/ame]


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## boedicca

I love this poster from the Smithsonian:

"All Finite Things Reveal Infinitue"...with the letters from actual butterfly wings.


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## freedombecki

Some wonderful south-of-the-border flying friends...

[ame=http://youtu.be/a9GCRgdCNJY]Mariposas - YouTube[/ame]


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## freedombecki

The specie that was in Post 1 was removed sometime in the past (not sure when) and though possibly the same, it's not certain this is the same video, but here's another Blue Adonis butterfly that is quite beautiful imho:


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## freedombecki

This one is dedicated to @testarosa, whose children are engaged in Monarch life studies!

[ame=http://youtu.be/QRNw0WhsJMw]Monarch Mania! Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle - YouTube[/ame]


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## testarosa

freedombecki said:


> This one is dedicated to @testarosa, whose children are engaged in Monarch life studies!
> 
> Monarch Mania! Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle - YouTube



Awesome Beck!

I'll stick some pictures up here.


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## freedombecki

testarosa said:


> freedombecki said:
> 
> 
> 
> This one is dedicated to @testarosa, whose children are engaged in Monarch life studies!
> 
> Monarch Mania! Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle - YouTube
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Awesome Beck!
> 
> I'll stick some pictures up here.
Click to expand...

Soon, I hope!


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## freedombecki

In the meantime, we've got Rosy Maple Moths pictured over at the quilt thread, where I'm making another embroidered quilt square all of butterflies (and other stuff).











I'm starting this one as an embroidery soon. Got it hooped up this morning, then found a ton of messages to answer when I got here a couple of hours ago! lol!


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## testarosa

First monarch that hatched.

Photofkit is having issues with the other butterflies   I'll do it again when I have the patience and time -it likes the deep ones fine - I put some in there.

We have 3 more chrysalises.

This is what they look like.


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## freedombecki

Beautiful, testarosa!


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## freedombecki

They're so very Madagascar ... and drop dead gorgeous, imho.


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## freedombecki

So many butterflies... so little time...






The Monarchs are all safe in Mexico, at least the ones who didn't die in Corn country from all the pesticides they're using to maximize the corn crop for making fuel, that is.


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## freedombecki

Credit: Fullfreestufdotcom


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## freedombecki

Great pictorial article here: 25 of the World's most beautiful Butterflies

Here's just one ~​ 
*Golden Birdwing (**Troides aeacus**)*​


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## freedombecki

Today, an online picture of a Chequered Skipper (Lepidoptera) caught my eye, not to mention my heart, and it led to finding this at Youtube and the Butterfly Conservatory *sigh*

[ame="http://youtu.be/kYb7uB1Xrjo"]Chequered Skipper - YouTube[/ame]

The Chequered Skipper's Latin name is _Carterocephalus palaemon._

It is apparently indigenous to the Islands of Great Britain, particularly western Scotland. The Butterfly Conservatory's page on the Chequered Skipper is here: Butterfly Conservation

Butterfly Conservation has a page entitled Moths Count, also. I clicked on an link there and was taken to the most fascinating page where they have pictured a "lime hawk moth" (I love lime because of quilting).


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## freedombecki

Lime Hawk-moth





Credits: What Moth? - Moths Count​


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## freedombecki

I am presently engaged in working on the coloration of a Blue Morpho butterfly, when I decided it would be really special to know a little more about this specie, and I looked him up, finding a bit here and a bit there. I like to know what an entomologist specializing in the order of Lepidoptera would tell a youngster first, so I might pick up a basic fact or two about a specie before delving into the scientific jargon of one entomologist pointing out to another what specifics to look for in identification, etc. Sometimes they forget an amateur might not know even the basics. That said, Here's a little article I found, "Facts About the Blue Morpho Butterfly" link along with a cool picture of one:



 ​ ​ ​


> In shades of various colors, butterflies are dainty creatures that have provided many poets and writers, inspiration for the most magnificent verses. Many have marveled at the transformation of the very modest caterpillar into a magnificent butterfly! One such species that crops up in my mind is the Blue Morpho. Here, we shall take a close look at some interesting facts about this species.
> 
> The Blue Morpho butterfly is a tropical butterfly found in *Central and South America.*
> 
> With a* wingspan of 5 - 8 inches*, it is considered one of the biggest butterflies in the world.
> 
> Its characteristic blue wings are extremely beautiful to look at. The wings are not really brightly colored for the female Blue Morpho butterflies; nevertheless, they still look beautiful.
> 
> Female Blue Morpho butterflies have dull blue wings with white spots and brown edgings.
> 
> At birth, the *caterpillars are reddish brown* in color. They also have *green colored patches on the back* area.
> 
> *The underside of their wings has a dull brown shade, which is dotted with several eyespots.
> *
> *Adult Blue Morpho butterflies usually live near the ground* and are often seen living in shrubs.
> 
> When this butterfly is spotted flying, it is one of the most beautiful sights one can ever imagine. The flapping wings create a fine blend of the bright blue and dull brown colors, and the flashing colors create a beautiful effect.
> 
> An adult Blue Morpho butterfly uses its long proboscis to suck juice from rotten fruits.
> 
> Blue Morpho caterpillars do not really like being disturbed! Dare you disturb it; the caterpillars secrete a foul-smelling fluid!
> 
> When on the hunt for a suitable mate, this butterfly travels through most of the layers of the forest.
> 
> Blue Morpho butterflies do not visit flowers for nectar! As mentioned earlier, these feed on the juice of rotting fruits or on the sap of the tree.
> 
> The caterpillars feed on various leguminous plants and are nocturnal by nature.
> 
> *Experts opine the Blue Morpho butterfly is almost an endangered species.* These butterflies are mainly affected by loss of natural habitat as a result of deforestation and other human activities. Additionally, *they are also killed for their wings*, which are used to manufacture jewelry.* If people stop the* *destruction of their habitat* and buying jewelry or ornamentation that involves the use of their wings, only then can there be some hope for their survival.
> Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/facts-about-the-blue-morpho-butterfly.html
> ​


​


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## freedombecki

Another good reference for the Blue Morpho Butterfly is at Wikipedia, and it's a long page, so here is the link.

​


> A *Morpho butterfly* may be one of over 29 accepted species and 147 accepted subspecies of butterflies in the genus _*Morpho*_. They are Neotropical butterflies found mostly in South America as well as Mexico and Central America.[1] Morphos range in wingspan from the 7.5 cm (3 inch) _M. rhodopteron_ to the imposing 20 cm (8 inch) Sunset Morpho, _M. hecuba_. The name Morpho, meaning changed or modified, is also an epithet of Aphrodite and Venus.​ ​


​ The Blue Morpho Butterfly, male _Morpho didius_:​ 

​ ​ Ventral side of _Morpho didius_ male:​ ​ 

​


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## freedombecki

This is the best dimorphic example of a male and female of _Morpho didius_ that I could find. They are from Peru and was found at Insect-Creations dot com.


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## freedombecki

I guess I landed here  at *The Blue Morpho Butterfly.A Natural Beauty in Costa Rica!* for finding the eggs I was looking for to show how the Blue Morpho starts out life when its mother lays her eggs on the right kind of plant for her young to flourish on:



 ​ ​


> Hard to believe, but there are almost 24,000 species of butterflies the World. One of the prettiest and most impressive species are the Blue Morpho butterflies. Not only are these beautiful butterflies common to Costa Rica, but they are one of the most sought after species by collectors and nature lovers alike who seek to experience them in their natural habitat, as they mesmerize you with their incredible bright blue metallic coloring that serves as an incredible contrast to the lush green rainforests of our Central America paradise.
> If youd like to learn more about these delicate rainforest treasures, read on
> *Common Name:* Blue Morpho Butterfly
> *Type:* Insect
> *Family:* Nymphalidae
> 
> *Range:* Common to the tropical rainforests of Central America and South America. Blue Morphos are found primarily in forests
> 
> 
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> 
> in Central and South America, with high concentrations in both Mexico and Costa Rica. These incredible insects are easily spotted by their large beautiful bright blue wings that reflect light as they fly by in their distinctly erratic pattern.


 
 Oh, if only I knew what plants to plant and bring them up here to the farm, which is surrounded by woodsy areas, I sure would! *sigh* Unfortunately we are not the jungle, and nights can get down to twenty degrees on hard freeze winters. 

 Well, I'm not going to worry about that today. Here's a cute little Costa Rican who managed to have one light on her. She must have animal magnetism and love pretty butterflies...



 ​ ​


> *Size:* Blue Morphos average approximately 5  6 inches wide, though some species will be smaller.
> 
> *Diet:* The blue morphos diet changes as it passes through each stage of life. As a caterpillar, the Blue Morpho chews leaves.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> When it morphs to become a butterfly, it begins to drink its food instead, using a long, protruding mouthpart called a proboscis as a literal drinking straw. They use this to sip the juice of rotting fruit, the fluids of decomposing animals, tree sap, fungi and wet mud. Blue Morphos can actually taste fruit with sensors located on their legs, and they taste-smell the air with their sensitive antennae, which function as a combined tongue and nose on the go.
> *Average life span:* The life span of the Blue Morpho butterfly is short. They generally live only 115 days, with most of their time focused on feeding and reproduction.


 
 Hm, bananas, oranges and what looks like a cantaloupe on the platter...
​


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## freedombecki

I found a couple of examples of catterpillars of the Morpho Butterfly. This one, from Guyana and published in French at Wikipedia is the caterpillar of _Morpho Menelaus,_ at least, it was on the same page. 



 ​ 

​ ​ _"Morpho menelaus menelaus_ au Venezuela, au Brésil, au Suriname, en Guyana et en Guyane_"_​


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## freedombecki

Morpho butterfly from somewhere in the Caribbean ~



 ​ These others are from various parts of the Americas, from Mexico to Uraguay and possibly further than that.​


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## freedombecki

This one took extra time. I'll try to put up some of the other butterflies which are done. The Blue Morpho is #8 of 12. There are 4 left to do. I worked harder on this one than any of the other stamped squares from a commercial embroidered quilt block print that I bought two packages of on eBay.  When this one is done, it's going to charity. I had to get another one for my family. My daughter has animal magnetism, and son loves the world of plants. He probably appreciates butterflies because they are such valuable pollinators. Maybe I should buy another set before the blocks go out of print. 





​


One request I saw in my readings today was for people to please avoid proliferating the sale of killing Morpho butterflies for their beautiful colors. They're closing in on the endangered species list because they're so beautiful people have devised ways to convert their wings into jewelery, and every entomologist in the world (well, not quite all) wants one of each of the 20-50 species in a collector's showing box.

If only we could wait until after mating were over. Well, they only have a 115 days to live. The eggs become larvae in 9 days. The process is explained better here, and a Blue Morpho garden video is on this page: Blue Morpho Butterfly | Costa Rica



​


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## freedombecki

Just looked up "identifying butterflies by color" and found some websites to help those who saw a certain colored butterfly, but wanted to know its name. Here were some of the findings:

Identify Butterflies by Shape, Wing Color, Wingspan & Species : Gardens With Wings

Butterflies -- identification guide -- Discover Life

Butterflies and Moths

Butterfly ID Guide | Butterfly Rainforest Exhibit | Florida Museum


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## freedombecki

*M A R I P O S A* . *C H R I S T M A S !*​ Texas State Butterfly ​ ​


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## freedombecki

Rhodinia fugax, the Singing Caterpillar Moth​ One of the family members was shown this morning on Bing! Wallpaper. ​ ​ 

 ​ [ame=http://youtu.be/GJAETCy37Hc]Rhodinia fugax - singing caterpillars - YouTube[/ame]​


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## freedombecki

Eastern-Tailed Blue Butterfly (Size, 1 inch, host blue lupine plant).


> ​
> 
> The Eastern-Tailed Blue Butterfly is a member of the Gossamer-Winged Butterfly group. They appear light and airy, floating through flight with delicate wings. This specimen is a part of the Blues tribe, where most members are shades of blue (pale blue to rich royal blue). It enjoys sitting on flowers and stems with its wings open, occasionally rubbing the hindwings together as if toscratch an itch. It is the only Blue on the eastern part of the continent with a "tail" on the ends of its wings.
> 
> Males have royal blue wings when they are open and females are more brown. When closed, both genders have whiter blue wings with black/gray markings. They have two orange eyespots on their lower hinddwings that is thought to help confuse bird predators. If the bird mistakes the eyespot for the head and pecks at it, only a small part of the wing is damaged, and the butterflycan escape complete annihilation.
> This small butterfly can be found in parks, gardens, meadows, and anywhere else flowers are abundant. Males tend to socialize at puddles or wet mud in what are called "puddle parties."
> The caterpillar of the Eastern- Tailed Blue Butterfly enjoys chewing the leaves of the flowers and a variety of bean plants.
> http://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Eastern-Tailed-Blue-Butterfly


I worked on a blue today, but not sure it will be this one or the Karner Blue Butterfly, which seems to be endangered due to loss of habitat and possibly food source. Both are quite beautiful and there are still many in the state of Michigan and vicinity eastward.

Here's a Karner blue female with orange markings (Males are all blue, I think they said...)

 



​ Credits: USFWS: Karner Blue Butterfly​ Lacaeides melissa samuelis ​
Scan 1: Start of blue embroidered butterfly
Scan 2: Male Karner Blue butterfly, credit: July 2013 Audubon Society Lepidoptera (Butterfly Calendar)
Scan 3: A brown butterfly completed (same pattern as blue start, except almost done.)


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## asaratis

Okay!  I'm done for now!


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## freedombecki

Asaratis, I was trying to get rid of Bing reel at the bottom of my browser, and I erased a whole bunch of stuff. Now I can't see your pictures. 

 Do you know what I got rid of that I could bring back? 

 I'd love to see your contributions, but not one of them is showing up. I just see a little X in a recessed, small black box.


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## asaratis

freedombecki said:


> Asaratis, I was trying to get rid of Bing reel at the bottom of my browser, and I erased a whole bunch of stuff. Now I can't see your pictures.
> 
> Do you know what I got rid of that I could bring back?
> 
> I'd love to see your contributions, but not one of them is showing up. I just see a little X in a recessed, small black box.



Do a cold (5 minutes off) reboot of your system, download Mozilla Firefox browser and dump Bing.  If that does not resolve the problem, you may have to call an expert.  I am not an expert.


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## freedombecki

Here are some pictures, for which I thank asaratis kindly for sending:


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## freedombecki

If you click on the thumbnails, you can clearly see how beautiful asaratis' pics are:

 4, 5, and 6:


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## freedombecki

It took some doing, but these are some of the most beautiful pictures of butterflies I've ever seen, and their backgrounds are gelled a little to show the butterfly details that I don't see as butterflies flit about the farm fields and roadsides here in the Piney Woods at certain times of the year. *sigh* I wish I knew their names. 

 7, 8 and 9:


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## freedombecki

What a lovely treat. Thanks again, asaratis! 

 10, 11, and 12:


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## freedombecki

13, 14, and 15:


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## freedombecki

I've been loving this green butterfly, my inspiration, all through the embroidered butterfly project I've been working on. ​ Malachite Butterfly, _Siproeta stelenes_​


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## freedombecki

See?​ 

 From my personal archives saved by various Bing! searches every day lately...​ 1. _Sipropoeta stelenes_, Malachite Butterfly​ 2. _Teinopalpus imperialis_ Kaiseri-hind swallowtail​ 3. Dido Longwing, _Philaethria dido_​


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## freedombecki

There are more than 24,000 species, or kinds, of butterflies.
 Butterflies are insects and cold blooded. They need the sun to warm them up.
 Butterflies smell with their antennae, taste with their feet, and drink with their proboscis.
 Different kinds of butterflies survive winter in different ways. Some hibernate as a butterfly, chrysalis, caterpillar, or an egg. 
 The monarch butterfly flies south to where it is warm. They can fly over 2,000 miles from Canada to Mexico in the fall.
 Butterflies can fly up to 30 miles per hour. 
 They can fly up to 50 miles in a day.
 <LI class=style24>Facts from: -Peggy Notebaert Museum -The_Butterfly_Site  
 This quote is from: Life Cycle of Butterfly Fun Facts


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## freedombecki




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## freedombecki

Common buckeye, _Junonia coenia,_ was featured on the 2012 Audubon Butterflies Calendar. They didn't print one this year, sadly. 

 Anyway, there it was on February  10 & 11, as beautiful as the one on Wikipedia website, which just rocks my socks:



​ ​ ​


> The *common buckeye* or simply, *buckeye*, (_Junonia coenia_) is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in southern Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia and all parts of the United States except the northwest, and is especially common in the south, the California coast, and throughout Central America and Colombia. The sub-species _Junonia coenia bergi_ is endemic to the island of Bermuda.
> Its habitat is open areas with low vegetation and some bare ground. This species and its relatives were placed formerly in the genus _Precis_.
> .
> *Description*
> 
> The bold pattern of eyespots and white bars on the upper wing surface is distinctive in much of its range, though compare related species in the same genus. These are mangrove buckeye (_Junonia evarete_) and tropical buckeye (_Junonia genoveva_), formerly considered one species, and the smoky buckeye (_Junonia evarete_). The eyespots likely serve to startle or distract predators, especially young birds. The species has many flights throughout the year, with mostly northward migrations for the summer. Much of the northern United States is only colonized in the fall from southern populations. Some of the later broods move southwards in the fall. Common buckeyes exhibit seasonal polyphenism, the summer version of the butterfly has light yellowish ventral wings and is called "linea". The fall morph has pink ventral wings, and is called the "rosa" morph.
> *Diet*
> 
> Adults feed on nectar and also take fluids from mud and damp sand. Males perch on bare ground or low plants, occasionally patrolling in search of females, but they are not territorial. The female lays eggs singly on buds or the upper side of leaves. The caterpillars are solitary and feed on the foliage, flowers, and fruits of the host plant. A variety of (typically) herbaceous plants are used, including especially plants in the snapdragon family (Scrophulariaceae). These include snapdragon (_Antirrhinum_), toadflax (_Linaria_), and _Gerardia_. Caterpillars also feed on plants of the plantain family, such as _Plantago_; and the _Acanthus_ family including ruellia (_Ruellia nodiflora_). Larvae feed singly. Adults and some larvae overwinter in southern areas. The pupa may not have a resting phase (diapause), as in many other butterflies.
> 
> The common buckeye was featured on the 2006 USPS 24-cent postage stamp.


 
 I don't think I've seen one here, but I don't know of anyone growing plantain around here. Will have to see if I can find seeds, because I'm growing everything else. Well, at least, in my hopes at least!


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## freedombecki

Found or refound a site dedicated to Butterflies, "The Butterfly Site."

 They printed some interesting add-ons to "Fun Butterfly Facts," and here they are:

*Fun Butterfly Facts:*

 We have gathered some strange butterfly facts to share with you. Amaze your friends! Enjoy!


Butterflies range in size from a tiny 1/8 inch to a huge almost 12 inches.
Butterflies can see red, green, and yellow.
Some people say that when the black bands on the Woolybear caterpillar are wide, a cold winter is coming.
The top butterfly flight speed is 12 miles per hour. Some moths can fly 25 miles per hour!
Monarch butterflies journey from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of about 2,000 miles, and return to the north again in the spring.
Butterflies cannot fly if their body temperature is less than 86 degrees.
Representations of butterflies are seen in Egyptian frescoes at Thebes, which are 3,500 years old.
Antarctica is the only continent on which no Lepidoptera have been found.
There are about 24,000 species of butterflies. The moths are even more numerous: about 140,000 species of them were counted all over the world.
The Brimstone butterfly (Gonepterix rhamni) has the longest lifetime of the adult butterflies: 9-10 months.
Some Case Moth caterpillars (Psychidae) build a case around themselves that they always carry with them. It is made of silk and pieces of plants or soil.
The caterpillars of some Snout Moths (Pyralididae) live in or on water-plants.
The females of some moth species lack wings, all they can do to move is crawl.
The Morgan's Sphinx Moth from Madagascar has a proboscis (tube mouth) that is 12 to 14 inches long to get the nectar from the bottom of a 12 inch deep orchid discovered by Charles Darwin.
Some moths never eat anything as adults because they don't have mouths. They must live on the energy they stored as caterpillars.
Many butterflies can taste with their feet to find out whether the leaf they sit on is good to lay eggs on to be their caterpillars' food or not.
There are more types of insects in one tropical rain forest tree than there are in the entire state of Vermont.
In 1958 Entomologist W.G. Bruce published a list of Arthropod references in the Bible. The most frequently named bugs from the Bible are: Locust: 24, Moth: 11, Grasshopper: 10, Scorpion: 10, Caterpillar: 9, and Bee: 4.
People eat insects  called "Entomophagy"(people eating bugs)  it has been practiced for centuries throughout Africa, Australia, Asia, the Middle East, and North, Central and South America. Why? Because many bugs are both protein-rich and good sources of vitamins, minerals and fats.
YOU can eat bugs! Try the "Eat-A-Bug Cookbook" by David George Gordon , 10 Speed Press. Dont want to cook them yourself? Go to HotLix for all sorts of insect goodies! My favorites are "Cricket-lickits"  a flavored sucker with a real edible cricket inside.
Many insects can carry 50 times their own body weight. This would be like an adult person lifting two heavy cars full of people.
There are over a million described species of insects. Some people estimate there are actually between 15 and 30 million species.
Most insects are beneficial to people because they eat other insects, pollinate crops, are food for other animals, make products we use (like honey and silk) or have medical uses.
Butterflies and insects have their skeletons on the outside of their bodies, called the exoskeleton. This protects the insect and keeps water inside their bodies so they dont dry out.
 March is the month of the Green Isle's honor of St. Patrick, who brought Christianity to Ireland, so here are some pictures of green butterflies I've found in the past year or so:

 1. Malachite Butterfly or _Siproeta stelenes_
 2. Green-banded Swallowtail Butterfly or _Papilio palinurus_
 3. Kaiser-I-Hind (translation: Emperor of India) or _Teinopalpus imperialis_


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## freedombecki

Some more green butterflies:

 1. Green Congo Swallowtail, _Papilio phorcas congoanus_
 2. Bamboo Page (Dido Longwing), _Philaethria-dido_
 3. Green Hairstreak Butterfly, _Callophrys rubi_


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## beautress

I'm feeling patriotic today! /whistling "You're a Grand Old Flag..."


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## Crixus

Not a butterfly, I guess it’s a moth. Still cool looking though.


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## Crixus

Any idea what type it is?


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## beautress

Crixus said:


> Any idea what type it is?


Not a clue. I only know I go ga-ga when I see the amazing flitting of one of the amazing phyla Lepidoptera. *sigh*

I leave the classifications of identifying one of them in a peculiar stage to far better scholars than me. Just consider me a "Lepidopterrorist," 'cause I'd rather fight than switch to adoring far more advanced creatures with fur and fury.


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## beautress

Someday I'm going to make a quilt like this one:






​


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## beautress

Wish I knew what this critter was, I just pulled him up with "beautiful lepidoptera" in my bing search engine for images. I was enchanted to the point of intoxication, *sigh*…

My guess is he or she could be a moth rather than a butterfly due to the fuzzy-wuzzies on his wing's shoulders.




​


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## beautress

I kept on looking for images of that amazing moth, and all I got for info was a lot of what looked like Russianized alphabets, from signs I saw in St. Petersburg when we visited there in 2006 on a cruise of the Baltic Sea, in which we visited 7 other countries between Norway and Russia. It's a whole 'nuther world in the north Atlantic waters. Memories, memories *sigh*

Oh, I just pulled up one listed only as "papillon" How lucky are those who've seen one of these in real life,



​


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## beautress

Oh, this butterfly, found in bing, is soooo transparent! It's known as the _Octauius Swordtail.






_​


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## beautress

I finally found the fabulous aqua blue moth's specie name: _Iotaphora admirabilis_  It is found in Siberia, Korea, and Taiwan. What little information in English that I could find was at Wikipedia on this page: Iotaphora admirabilis - Wikipedia

I'll keep looking to see if there are some pictures around in English, so I can understand what is known about them. 

The greater majority of this moth in bing images, once I loaded the latin name, 9 to 1 of them were green:













And not this amazing aqua color which attracted me to find them, since it's the color I love so much:






So I don't know if the bottom image is the real deal or photoshopped in color. It doesn't seem to be. Maybe they're the same specie, at different locales, or bimorphism, or same specie, like humans, different skin color. *sigh* I'm just a fool for the blues. Sounds like the name of a good country song. <giggle>


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## beautress

Butterfly, beware!




​


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## yiostheoy

freedombecki said:


> Butterflies and moths are like the beautiful flowers of the Animal Kingdom. This thread is for sharing photos, facts, and inspirational sightings of any member of the Lepidoptera family.
> 
> I'll start with a specie in my favorite color: _Lysandra bellargus_. (Adonis Blue)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Credits: Kent, UK dot gov​
> In the book, _A World of Butterflies_, text by Brian Cassie, 2004, Chanticleer Press, p. 60. it says: "The Adonis Blue is one of many species of blues that is closely attended by ants during its larval stage. The ants feed on sweet secretions from the larvae's honeydew glands and they provide the immature insects with a measure of protection from predators. Adonis Blue caterpillars, which feed openly during the day, are almost always found in the company of ants. At times the ants even protect them at night by covering them over with a layer of soil."
> 
> I have the book in my private library at home. It's a small hardcover that has full-page sized butterfly photographs by photographer Kjell Sandved.


The link died.


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## yiostheoy

freedombecki said:


> See a lot of these kind of butterflies around..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Credits to tbone at photobucket.​


I have always especially loved the swallowtails, especially the tiger.


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## beautress

I saw another a few days ago. They do not stick around for you to admire them.
Pity party music

Thank goodness for bing images! They make butterflies come and go all the time.


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## beautress

I've been seeing a lot of Sulphur butterflies around lately. They're almost neon at this time of year. Last January, I remember seeing an oversized group of sulphurs, but they were tinted a little yellower than these October surprises.


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## beautress

This Sulphur is so _neon.
_
_




_​


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## beautress

The Giant Sulphurs were out last January all around my house, Freedom Lake, the orchard, the arena, and the northwest pasture. I couldn't figure where all of them came from.

Their size was enormous compared to the itty bitty sulphurs I saw at the butterfly centers I've visited from Florida all the way up to Vancouver Island, Canada.

Here's what I found on bing that is so like the ones I saw for the entire month of January:




​


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## beautress

his morning, I just bing'd some "butterflies beautiful," and were they ever!


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## beautress

When I was a kid, my Dad got a job one year as a school Principle in a small town in southwestern Texas, and one of the first things he had to do was to teach a science class which the district couldn't quite afford to hire a teacher for science, and he had the right credentials. I sat through his first lecture (since there wasn't another school in the area to send principal's kids to) and it started out something like this: "Science is the study of God's wonderful universe..." When I look at some of the beautiful butterflies that I bing'd in their images, that saying really comes back to me as I see the images of butterflies from all over the world, and the infinite variety of them in pattern, color, and I see them around my small acreage in the country, Walker County Texas, where they're here all year around, except for the bitterest winter days, where they sleep in protective cocoons only to reappear when the thermometer goes to a temperature they survive well in, which makes them seasonal. I noticed last January, the Sulphur butterflies were just everywhere, and they were so large, I looked up sulphurs, and the ones I was seeing may have been "giant sulphurs," whose 5 1/2- inch wingspans ARE gigantic, next to their tiny 1-3 inch wing span brethren and sisterns, also some shade of light Sulphur green to Schoolbus yellows and all yellows in between. 

While my husband was alive, we visited a lot of butterfly gardens, just because he liked to see me happy when so fascinated with the animal kingdom himself. The last years of his life, he and I visited the Houston museum of Natural Sciences that housed a wonderful 3- or 4-story glass dome for butterflies that had possibly one of the best environments that housed wonderful butterfly-preferred plants from all over this planet, and lovely warmth enjoyed by some species. I found a great video of the butterflies in there that someone left with credit to the butterfly center there and showing these lovely, peaceful creatures with their lovely, lilting aerial maneuvers in slow motion so viewers could see how spectacular they are. I'm going to post it below. Indeed they are one of the best visions of this wonderful universe the good Lord gave us:

Houston Museum of Natural Sciences Butterfly Center

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## beautress

Earmark this page for when you have time to be blessed by some more of these videos from Youtube:

10 beauties


Cockrell Butterfly Center at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences


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## beautress

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## beautress

African Butterflies, Part 1 and Part 2--may take half an hour, great screen candy. 


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## beautress

One hour and 8 minutes of soothing music and lovely lepidopteran images, I promise ya. 

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## beautress

The National Geographic folks are saying the Monarch butterfly is experiencing dwindling migration. In my fields, I seem them winging their way around, so when I take the tractor out and mow, I avoid mowing down the milkweeds. When that happens, the following year, the areas I spared quadruplicate the number of milkweeds the following year. If I planted them, they'd likely not come up. God does a much better job than me. Anyways, this is what National Geographic showed in Bing: They are such charming creatures, and if we proliferate the milkweeds, and don't use insecticides, we help them out.




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## beautress

Couldn't resist this one, and it looks like a blue morpho, except it has a sort-of swallow's tail.





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## beautress

'Astyanax' Red-spotted Purple Limenitis arthemis astyanax  | Butterflies and Moths of North America​


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## beautress

Spot the Difference between butterflies and moths

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## beautress

Coming another day: Lepidoptera Taxonomic Training

In the meantime, here's a great show about the 7 families of Butterflies:


By the way, at youtube, it gives a correction:
CORRECTION:
6:45 on depicts a metalmark MOTH,
not a metalmark butterfly!
It's still cool though.​


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## Care4all

We may differ politically Becky but we sure do have the same interests outside of this forum!!!


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## Care4all

I have a Meadow surrounded by woods in front of my home, which has all kinds of critters that rely on it....  from deer to butterflies! 

Especially when it is not cut...  in the Spring, the deer leave their fawn there and the doe stays in the woods on my house's side of the Way and keeps an eye on them...  they sleep on my side of the dirt Way and leave the baby fawn in the meadow because fawns have no smell and if they stay still in the tall grasses and bushes, the Coyote won't smell them out to kill and eat them....  the mothers do smell so they want the Coyotes to seek them out, not their fawn


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## Care4all

the second picture is of course a bumble bee....  they like purple too!  Butterflies LOVE purple flowers!  At least here they do!


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## beautress

Care4all said:


> We may differ politically Becky but we sure do have the same interests outside of this forum!!!



Thanks for sharing those beautiful pictures, Care4all. They are close in resemblance to the gulf coast butterflies on the back forty at my little farmstead. It's pretty remote because it's like a floodplain when we're not having a drought, so I leave the land alone except for carving a path around the fencelines to prevent fires in case of a drought as serious as the one in 2011 when one day, I saw 7 areas that had smoke rising from wooded areas or meadows near and far. Lucky for me the neighbors on all 3 sides and across the farm road had no fires, so we were gratefully spared. But my Kubota got overtime that summer. 90 days of temps over 90F, 60 consecutive days were said by the radio were 100F or more. And last January, it was very moderate here. I couldn't believe my eyes, day after day, when we had giant sulphurs gracefully winging their way up and down, over the house, and under the fence--just everywhere. To me their sight was just breath taking.


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## Care4all

I'll be in Florida this weekend visiting my parents for a few weeks, so I will get to experience the heat!  It is usually in the 70's all summer long up here so we feel like we are suffocating and it is sweltering when it hits the 80's like it did this past summer....  the critters and bugs seem to do really well here in this cooler summer weather than when I lived in Florida with the heat....  but what I do LOVE about down there are all the long legged water birds and I usually get some good pictures of them when I visit my parents and sister....

I'm jealous, I want to live on your farmstead!


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## Care4all

This is a moth, that comes every year!  It waits for days stuck to the screen webbing on the deck gazebo....  days and days and days, just stck to the screening...

THEN....

It's MATE comes....  they do a little dance,  make a little love, get down tonight!!!  hahaha!

But what a beautiful Moth!



















Doing the naughty when it's mate showed up


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## beautress

Thanks, Care4all. I hope the Sunshine State puts her best weather foot forward while you are staying there with your parents. Years ago, when my in-laws lived in Tampa, Florida, we visited a Butterfly facility in a large greenhouse with glassed entrance rooms to insure that no butterflies escaped from the interior gardens. It was so totally fascinating, we made sure every vacation after that had another butterfly garden somewhere we could visit. That one in central Florida was within an hour's drive from Tampa, though. I wish I had a better memory and could remember the name of the town. Seems we visited a cactus garden that was in the shape of the United States and each state had the same cacti species growing in it to give it a separate look from the neighboring states. Those were the days...  Butterfly gardens that are outdoors have this little problem--the one not far from here we saw exactly two butterflies the whole time. Our little friends in the Lepidoptera order are shy, are often are not scheduled to escape their cocoons some days, so it's not like the amazing Cockrell Butterfly Garden, the Houston Museum of Natural History, where winged beauties are flitting a yard or two apart all the hours of the day.  Cockrell Butterfly Center | Houston Museum Of Natural Science


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## beautress

Care4all said:


> This is a moth, that comes every year!  It waits for days stuck to the screen webbing on the deck gazebo....  days and days and days, just stck to the screening...
> 
> THEN....
> 
> It's MATE comes....  they do a little dance,  make a little love, get down tonight!!!  hahaha!
> 
> But what a beautiful Moth!
> 
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> Doing the naughty when it's mate showed up



They're beautiful to me, Care4all. Thanks for sharing. Are those Atlas Moths? They sure have fabulous markings.


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## Care4all

beautress said:


> Thanks, Care4all. I hope the Sunshine State puts her best weather foot forward while you are staying there with your parents. Years ago, when my in-laws lived in Tampa, Florida, we visited a Butterfly facility in a large greenhouse with glassed entrance rooms to insure that no butterflies escaped from the interior gardens. It was so totally fascinating, we made sure every vacation after that had another butterfly garden somewhere we could visit. That one in central Florida was within an hour's drive from Tampa, though. I wish I had a better memory and could remember the name of the town. Seems we visited a cactus garden that was in the shape of the United States and each state had the same cacti species growing in it to give it a separate look from the neighboring states. Those were the days...  Butterfly gardens that are outdoors have this little problem--the one not far from here we saw exactly two butterflies the whole time. Our little friends in the Lepidoptera order are shy, are often are not scheduled to escape their cocoons some days, so it's not like the amazing Cockrell Butterfly Garden, the Houston Museum of Natural History, where winged beauties are flitting a yard or two apart all the hours of the day.  Cockrell Butterfly Center | Houston Museum Of Natural Science


Damn!  I lived in Tampa for nearly 10 years and had no idea they had Butterfly facilities!   But I was young back then and only thought about going out dancing and drinking with friends and never in a million gazillion years did I think at that time in my life, I would want to live in a Country setting, rural, away from it ALL and in to Nature, like I do now, way up here!


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## Care4all

beautress said:


> Care4all said:
> 
> 
> 
> This is a moth, that comes every year!  It waits for days stuck to the screen webbing on the deck gazebo....  days and days and days, just stck to the screening...
> 
> THEN....
> 
> It's MATE comes....  they do a little dance,  make a little love, get down tonight!!!  hahaha!
> 
> But what a beautiful Moth!
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> Doing the naughty when it's mate showed up
> 
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> 
> They're beautiful to me, Care4all. Thanks for sharing. Are those Atlas Moths? They sure have fabulous markings.
Click to expand...

I have absolutely no idea what they are....?  I meant to look them up...  but didn't or can't remember if I did at the time!


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## beautress

Care4all said:


> beautress said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, Care4all. I hope the Sunshine State puts her best weather foot forward while you are staying there with your parents. Years ago, when my in-laws lived in Tampa, Florida, we visited a Butterfly facility in a large greenhouse with glassed entrance rooms to insure that no butterflies escaped from the interior gardens. It was so totally fascinating, we made sure every vacation after that had another butterfly garden somewhere we could visit. That one in central Florida was within an hour's drive from Tampa, though. I wish I had a better memory and could remember the name of the town. Seems we visited a cactus garden that was in the shape of the United States and each state had the same cacti species growing in it to give it a separate look from the neighboring states. Those were the days...  Butterfly gardens that are outdoors have this little problem--the one not far from here we saw exactly two butterflies the whole time. Our little friends in the Lepidoptera order are shy, are often are not scheduled to escape their cocoons some days, so it's not like the amazing Cockrell Butterfly Garden, the Houston Museum of Natural History, where winged beauties are flitting a yard or two apart all the hours of the day.  Cockrell Butterfly Center | Houston Museum Of Natural Science
> 
> 
> 
> Damn!  I lived in Tampa for nearly 10 years and had no idea they had Butterfly facilities!   But I was young back then and only thought about going out dancing and drinking with friends and never in a million gazillion years did I think at that time in my life, I would want to live in a Country setting, rural, away from it ALL and in to Nature, like I do now, way up here!
Click to expand...

As I recollect, we drove at least an hour going either east or southeast from Tampa. Gosh, Care4all, it's been so many years ago, we may have driven further, but no, It was toward the east, but in central florida somewhere on the road between Tampa and Orlando, let me go look it up...

Found this and hope one or two of these are near your parent's place:



*Butterfly Rainforest*
1052 TripAdvisor reviews
3215 Hull Rd Florida Museum Of Natural Histor, Gainesville · (352) 846-2000
Open today 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
*Butterfly World**
1097 TripAdvisor reviews
3600 W Sample Rd, Coconut Creek · (954) 977-4400
Open today 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM


*Lukas Nursery & Butterfly Encounter*
273 TripAdvisor reviews
1909 Slavia Rd, Oviedo · (407) 365-6163
Closed now, opens at 8:30 AM

*Tom Allen Memorial Butterfly House*
17 TripAdvisor reviews
5505 Rose Garden Dr, Cape Coral · (239) 573-3128


*Naples Botanical Garden*
3654 TripAdvisor reviews
4820 Bayshore Drive, Naples · (239) 643-7275

*Don't know where Coconut Creek is, but the new facility is far and away more beautiful than the starter butterfly house we visited, although the gardens in some of the websites' pictures sure do look familiar. I just really don't remember where it was, but all of those places look like a lot of fun if you like butterflies, and the flowers in Florida are always so beautiful and prolific, that in and of themselves, it's worth going to anything that has botanical species in it.

We also saw this cactus map while there, but it was in a different place than the butterfly garden.




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## beautress

Atlas moths:


















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## beautress

Lepidoptera Taxonomic Training
This takes seventeen minutes, well worth it if you are reading a butterfly book you got at Amazon or inherited (I'm so jealous)
You will hear a lot of Latin until around timed minute 3:00, when the pictures begin *sigh*

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## beautress

Wow. I just watched Dr. Brown's (Mississippi State University, above ^) give his lecture, and it was so fascinating it seemed more like 18 seconds than the 17:48 minutes it spans. *sigh* There are so many fascinating things butterflies do. Some are so tiny, their scholars must identify them with inspection via a magnifying glass, and others by controlling their breathtaking beauty in ourselves to notice how they prosper and which plants they pollinate to keep God's wonderful, wild plant and animal world intact. One specie puts eggs on a yucca plant that Dr. Brown actually kept isolated for 18 years, and each year that the plant bloomed, enough eggs would hatch for the butterfly to pollinate it. What patience his career has brought about in someone truly dedicated to teaching others about the wonderful family members of the Insect Kingdom, and namely, the families in Lepidoptera therein. That's just one of many fascinating things described in how a specie of moths or butterflies, and their close kin, roll.  Enjoy! Oh, and if you follow the "youtube" inscription at the bottom, you can go to full screen there. Some of the micro sized members of Lepidoptera are magnified, but full screen shows how amazing they may look, and this is a primary lesson in taxonomy, so it may not specify the exact wingspan in inches, so some of these you may never see even if they surround your front porch light at night or the garage door, only to disappear in daylight to wherever they feed and play. Mostly in winged form, they sip nectar only. And cabbage moths are often only acknowledged if they seek out and find your cruciferous veggies in your garden. Are they black sheep, or do they enable plants to produce viable seeds through the pollination that goes on when the larvae or winged butterflies get up close and personal between the pollen and ova of the plant? Stay tuned...


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## beautress

Bolivian Butterflies


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## beautress

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## beautress

Why do we love butterflies? 
Their antics amuse and relax us, and here is a good example when coupled with lovely music:

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## beautress

Cruisin' the net...OK, OK, Bing Images on Lepidoptera......I'm an addict for their variety of shapes and beautiful colors. Not to mention, out here in the country, I watch them from January until the next Fall when so many leaves are falling they're hard to spot.

















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## beautress

From: These moths are drinking birds' tears | Science 101



​Deep in the Brazilian rainforest, a biologist discovered a fascinating phenomenon taking place on a tree branch above him. A little bird perched in a quiet slumber was disturbed by a large moth, casually sipping liquid from the bird’s eye. Catching the strange behavior once more before the night ended, he distiguished Brazil as only the third country where such behavior has been recorded.

*A light bite*
This behavior, known as lachryphagy (tear-feeding) is well documented with animals such as mammals and reptiles. However, it has only been confirmed a precious few times on birds – a dangerous gambit, as many bird species prey on moths and butterflies.







Smithsonian

Lachryphagy is just one of several ways butterflies and moths get vital proteins and minerals like sodium which they need to produce eggs. Sipping the surface water from puddles is another method they use for fluid gathering aptly named “mud-puddling”.

*Parasite, or paramour?*
Traditional symbiotic relationships between two or more animal species generally result in all parties involved gaining something from a strange degree of cooperation. It’s unclear whether the host animal receives any benefit from the feeding moths or butterflies, but they don’t seem particularly bothered by it.








Bored Panda

Leandro Moraes, the biologist who captured the fantastical scenes below, suspects lachryphagy may increase the chances of birds developing diseases. This is because the eye is one of the easiest barriers for germs and viruses to bypass when attempting to enter the body.

*Some kind of monster*
Human beings in Thailand have also been subject to nighttime tear theft by moths. Other species of moth, notably some members of genus calypta, have been known to use their long proboscis to suck blood from invertabrates, mammals, and even humans.








Original Butterfly house

As disturbing as this is, it’s less about spreading vampiric curses as it is a part of a behavioral group designed to help the butterflies and moths reproduce.


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## beautress

Another something that caught my eye was the Spicebush Swallowtail, and I found pictures of both butterfly and its favorite bush:

Spicebush Swallowtail, _Papilio troilus_​






Oh, my they have a sting when they are caterpillars:


And she flies away...








And its Spicebush  _Lindera_ 








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## beautress

Think these are somewhere around here: Spicebushes. aka _Lindera














_
And if it's not raining right now, I'm going to go look out there. May have to find a raincoat, though. 
_

_


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## beautress

The Sixth day of Christmas, not a goose a-swimmin' nor a-layin' in sight, yet all I can think of is those pretty red beautiful African Lepidopterans known as _Cymothoe sangaris._​
_

 _​


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## beautress

Just sharing an awesome butterfly picture floating about on the net today...



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## beautress

Last year, January was warm. Giant Sulphers were flitting about in the unseasonably warm days, and they were so awesome. This year, it's cold, 35F out there this morning, so I'm just going the vicarious route!


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## beautress

Milbert's Tortoiseshell
Aglais milberti

​Years ago, I purchased a butterfly coloring book written by Jan Slovak, and recently was going through my nature books and located the most beautiful butterfly I'd not recently recalled, Milbert's Tortoiseshell. This butterfly's host plant is stinging nettle that grows in the cool temperature regions like Massachusetts, Colorado. The reason its coloration is so dark is because dark colors absorb more of the sun's heat, whereas light colors do not. I read through several pages before bringing images on it, though, and one Lepidopterist said he usually saw one or two butterflies of this genus per year, and one year saw none. The most recent year, he said that the Milberti's tortoiseshell was everywhere, citing it to be a banner year for them. I've noticed some of the butterflies on my land are like that, and one year I saw so many Gulf Coast Fritillaries I anticipated seeing them the next year, but only a handful were seen only one time.The Butterflies Coloring Book has thumbnail color portraits of each butterfly in the book, and this one just appealed to me for some reason. I liked especially the lilting shape of the butterflies, but when I got online and saw the brilliant colors and detailed markings, I realized how much more beautiful this butterfly is in vitro.  Hope you will click on the thumbnails to get a larger picture and the unique details of this amazingly beautiful creature. In fact, I've never seen such markings which resemble a narrow band of lace along the wingtips, colored gray.


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## beautress

Phoebus Parnassian
_Parnassius phoebus_

Parnassius phoebus, known as the Phoebus Apollo or small Apollo, is a butterfly species of the swallowtail butterfly family, Papilionidae, found in Eurasia and North America. P. phoebus is found in the Alps, Urals, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, Alaska and Canada south through the United States to Utah and New Mexico.  Parnassius phoebus - Wikipedia

Host plant, King's crown, in Alaskan mountains, British Columbia, _et al_





Click on images below for fine details of Parnassius phoebus.​I love this butterfly. It is so different, can endure a snowstorm, and it's quite a pleasure to see a specie that is found throughout the Northern hemisphere.
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## beautress

beautress said:


> Milbert's Tortoiseshell
> Aglais milberti
> 
> ​Years ago, I purchased a butterfly coloring book written by Jan Slovak, and recently was going through my nature books and located the most beautiful butterfly I'd not recently recalled, Milbert's Tortoiseshell. This butterfly's host plant is stinging nettle that grows in the cool temperature regions like Massachusetts, Colorado. The reason its coloration is so dark is because dark colors absorb more of the sun's heat, whereas light colors do not. I read through several pages before bringing images on it, though, and one Lepidopterist said he usually saw one or two butterflies of this genus per year, and one year saw none. The most recent year, he said that the Milberti's tortoiseshell was everywhere, citing it to be a banner year for them. I've noticed some of the butterflies on my land are like that, and one year I saw so many Gulf Coast Fritillaries I anticipated seeing them the next year, but only a handful were seen only one time.The Butterflies Coloring Book has thumbnail color portraits of each butterfly in the book, and this one just appealed to me for some reason. I liked especially the lilting shape of the butterflies, but when I got online and saw the brilliant colors and detailed markings, I realized how much more beautiful this butterfly is in vitro.  Hope you will click on the thumbnails to get a larger picture and the unique details of this amazingly beautiful creature. In fact, I've never seen such markings which resemble a narrow band of lace along the wingtips, colored gray.



Another tortoiseshell, this one is called

The Large Tortoiseshell
_Nymphalis polychloros_

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## beautress

Found a video on a hummingbird moth, just for fun. The speaker seems to be someone who likes ornithology and Lepidoptera family members.

​This was called "Hamadryas, (butterfly)" Not sure if that meant butterfly in another language or is an actual specie name. No matter. It's a beautiful creature in and of itself. imho.


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## Likkmee

Pfffffffffffffft


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## beautress

Wow! Cute, Likeme!


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## beautress

Found some truly beautiful specimens on Bing!


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## beautress

Emesis butterflies














Their range is from southern Mexico to Amazonia.
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## beautress

Owl Butterfly
_Caligo Memnon_





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## beautress

Owl Moths are different from Owl Butterflies.
And oh, the moths are so beautiful.
   Owl Moth
Brahmanea japonica​


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## beautress

I thought of a yellow swallowtail I caught the slightest glimpse of last spring. I couldn't believe the beauty I was looking at! I even caught the blue area at the edge of its lower wings. It was so perfect, but quick to leave the scene as I was oooing and ahhhhing! lol
Our area is close to the edge in the central states area, but there's no mistake. It is called the Eastern Swallowtail, and its range is at the left below.


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## beautress

Found the picture, not sure the name or origin. Will do digging.​


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## beautress

How Embarrassing. When I went to save it, this popped up: Southern Festoon Zerynthia polyxena

Sometimes digging takes weeks, sometimes you get lucky.














Wikipedia had this to say:​_Z. polyxena_ is widespread in the middle and southern Europe (southeastern France, Italy, Slovakia and Greece) covering all the Balkans and reaching the south of Kazakhstan and the Urals. Although they are widespread they occur only locally.  These rare butterflies can be found in warm, sunny and open places such as grassy herb rich meadows, vineyards, river banks, wetlands, cultivated areas, brushy places, wasteland, rocky cliffs and karst terrains, at an elevation of about 1,700 meters above sea level, but usually under 900 meters.


The southern festoon can reach a wingspan of 46–52 mm. The females have slightly longer wings, usually lighter colored than males. The basic color of the wings is yellow, with a complicated pattern of several black bands and spots.

On the edges of the hindwings they have a black sinuous line with a series of blue and red warning spots to deter potential predators (aposematism). The body is dark brown and bears red patches on the sides of the abdomen.

This species is rather similar to _Zerynthia rumina_, _Zerynthia cerisyi_ and _Zerynthia cretica_. However this butterfly can be confused only with the Spanish festoon (_Z. rumina_). The differences are in the presence of blue on the hind wings of _Z. polyxena_ and the relatively lower amount of red on its forewings as compared to _Z. rumina_. The ranges of these two species overlap only in southeast France.

The caterpillars of _Z. polyxena_ are up to 35 millimeters long. They are initially black, then they are yellowish with six rows of fleshy orange and black spikes all over the body.


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## beautress

Just flitting around the net, enjoying pastels in nature...



































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## beautress

A Rosy maple moth on glass door



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## beautress

The Other side
Rosy Maple Moth


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## beautress

I love butterflies, more today, more today than yesterday...

Did some digging on these beautifully-colored butterflies, then found out an artist had painted them to look like the real deal. I'll never, never know if her touching up made them prettier, but they were amazing, so I'll never know. Oh, yep, one was called a "boleta" Apparently like the word mariposa, it's all butterfly in some language, not English. Weird research this evening.

Well, I wasn't disappointed when I found a series of really pretty Viceroys, so here's what I found:


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## beautress

Theona Checkerspot - these are a real treat to your eye if ever you have seen one either on the colorful top or the cream and colorful bottom. Saw a gourp of these a few years ago. Thought I'd died and gone to heaven, they were so beautiful, and there were dozens everywhere all summer. The next year, not one sighting. They were hanging around these extremely fragrant purple flowers on the floodplain area below Freedom lake at my place. Whoa!




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## beautress

Spanish Festoons
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## badger2

Zerynthia
(site not secure)
tolweb.org/Zerynthia_rumina/65414

Zerynthia host plant is Aristolochia. Two hosts for Chlosyne theona are Ceniza blanca (Leucophyllum texanum and L. frutescens) and Paintbrush (Castilleja species [in Arizona]).


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## badger2

Suggested reading is Gene Stratton-Porter, Moths of the Limberlost, 1912.
Gene Stratton-Porter - Wikipedia


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## badger2

How many anti-cancer lepidoptera have already been depicted in this thread?

What Do Butterfly Cancer Ribbon Tattoos Mean?
What Butterfly Cancer Ribbon Tattoos Mean

Much work has already been done on the Painted Lady genome, and so one choice for a cancer mascot is Vanessa cardui, and the anti-cancer properties of its host plant, Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum). One important developmental; V. cardui gene is Wnt4, and its human equivalents are found in breast, ovarian, lung, and colorectal cancer.

Vanessa cardui
Vanessa cardui - Wikipedia


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## beautress

I am enjoying reading badger2's posts very much...


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## beautress

Painted Lady, _Vanessa cardui_






















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## badger2

The Painted Lady Butterfly Life Span
https://simplybutterflies.org/patinted-lady-butterfly-life-cycle/

'Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui.

Occurrence: Extremely generalized; open sunny habitats including waste lots. gardens, grasslands from above timberline to low deserts. Resident in Mexico, and perhaps portions of southwestern United States, frequently migrating through our area. Over much of East, adults show up in April and May, and mature caterpillars appear within a month.

Common Food Plants. Burdock, thistle, and other composites; hollyhock other members of the mallow family; lupine and other legumes preferred; many other low-growing, mostly non-woody plants are used, especially during outbreaks.'
(Wagner, DL, Caterpillars of Eastern North America)

Wagner, however, does not mention an important food plant of V. cardui: Argemone mexicana.

(2018) Anti-Cancer Argemone mexicana (This study is from Saudi Arabia, India, and Australia)
Potentiating Effect of Ethnomedicinal Plants Against Proliferation on Different Cancer Cell Lines.  - PubMed - NCBI
'....Argemone mexicana shows maximum anti-cancer activity on various cancer cell lines in comparison to other medicinal plants.'


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## badger2

Michael Larsen has a butterfly ranch and has been rearing lepidoptera for quite some time. The webpage can be retrieved from the net.


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## beautress

Badger2,  thanks for telling me about Michael Larsen's butterfly ranch. My search engine located the Texas Butterfly Ranch, and the website is run by Monika Maeckle who on the "about" page said: So, where is the Texas Butterfly Ranch? Answer: the geographic collective of Austin, San Antonio and the Hill Country.    Link:  texasbutterflyranch
I found this butterfly photograph of a unique butterfly of San Antonio, sitting on a "Cowpen Daisy" 





​
Unfortunately, I didn't find Michael Larsen there. I also ran his name through my search engine. There must be 100 people named Michael Larsen in the USA who posted their picture online at one time or another. I have no idea which one he is. Did he write a book? Oh, I did find a man on a horse who was dressed like a rancher...

It took an hour to create this post, and I still haven't found the specie name. If I find its name I before my time runs out to edit, I will try to publish it.


​


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## badger2

The photo above seems to be a Bordered Patch Butterfly, Chlosyne lacinia and its host plant is Cowpen Daisy, Verbesina enselioides. Transcribing the URL of Michael Larsen's webpage did not work but should be retrievable 'simplybutterflies.org.'


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## EvilCat Breath

Sorry
I just had to


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## beautress

badger2 said:


> The photo above seems to be a Bordered Patch Butterfly, _Chlosyne lacinia_ and its host plant is Cowpen Daisy, Verbesina enselioides. Transcribing the URL of Michael Larsen's webpage did not work but should be retrievable 'simplybutterflies.org.'


Thanks, badger2! I just now found it's name, Chlosyne lacinia, but not its common name which you furnished. I haven't seen one like it that I can recall around here, but what an amazing pair of wings it has, and oh, I figured that picture I brought from the Texas Butterfly Center was on its ear, so I fixed it below by simple taking it to edit, rotating 90 degrees to the left. So it's off to Mr. Hansen's webpage at Butterfly Information Hub Home - Simply Butterflies . Thanks so much for all the information, and I'm especially happy you knew the name of the butterfly. Apparently it is one in a tetrarch of cousins. 

Bordered Patch Butterfly
_Chlosyne lacinia


_​


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## beautress

Tipsycatlover said:


> Sorry
> I just had to


Tipsycatlover, that was sooooooooo cute! Thanks!


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## beautress

badger2 said:


> Michael Larsen has a butterfly ranch and has been rearing lepidoptera for quite some time. The webpage can be retrieved from the net.


Thanks to you for sending the butterfly link, and I found the link to Michael's page here: Michael Larsen, Author at Simply Butterflies
He's a young man and the author of this beautiful website! I've never seen someone that young so dedicated to delivering information about lepidoptera. Thanks for being so dedicated to the knowledge of butterflies yourself, badger2. I really appreciate it.


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## badger2

The husky is reminiscent of the pet in Wisconsin who seemed to detect ovarian cancer with its sense of smell. The monarch's poisons, cardiac glycosides, are indeed for its protection as Larsen's webpage says.

(Nov 2018) Danaus plexippus Parasite Resistance / Cardiac Glycosides
The Effects of Milkweed Induced Defense on Parasite Resistance in Monarch Butterflies, Danaus plexippus.  - PubMed - NCBI

The monarch is also an anticancer butterfly.

(Mar 2019) Anticancer Cardiac Glycoside Cerberin
Cardiac glycoside Cerberin exerts anticancer activity through PI3K/AKT/mTOR signal transduction inhibition.  - PubMed - NCBI

The Bordered Patch does not seem to be armed with cardiac glycosides, though a glycoside does occur in its host genus, Verbesina.

(Jan 2009) Verbesinosides A-F from Verbesina
Verbesinosides A-F, 15,27-cyclooleanane saponins from the American native plant Verbesina virginica.  - PubMed - NCBI


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## badger2

When having applied amino acid music to the PI3K gene on an investigative trajectory for ovarian cancer (Music forum), we found that the mutation at position 1047 of the gene, nature had already written in the ominous-sounding music. One did not have to add anything to represent the mutation.  Anyone can verify that what we are saying is true. Therefore, Danaus plexippus takes the (current) lead as an anticancer mascot butterfly.


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## Marion Morrison

beautress said:


> Wish I knew what this critter was, I just pulled him up with "beautiful lepidoptera" in my bing search engine for images. I was enchanted to the point of intoxication, *sigh*…
> 
> My guess is he or she could be a moth rather than a butterfly due to the fuzzy-wuzzies on his wing's shoulders.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ​



Looks like a job for a can of Aqua-Net + a lighter!


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## badger2

Noting that the Cerberin report is from a collaboration: UK, Australia, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Rutgers University in New Jersey, cerberin is behaving like radiotherapy in the cell because it causes double-strand breaks just as does radiotherapy. The cancer cell's major problem at this point is that it does not recognize the damage as does a healthy cell and loses the race in the DNA damage repair response (DDR). Thus, the use of some of these plant compounds in the lepidoptera are also for protection from forms of radiation such as UV, even in the moths.


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## badger2

Bhutan Glory
www.learnaboutbutterflies.com/Asia%20temperate%20-%20Bhutanitis%20lidderdalii.htm


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## beautress

I'm very fond of Giant Sulphur butterflies. In January of 2017, I saw the unbelievable. We had a mild couple of weeks here in Walker County, TX, and every time I went out doors, I was blessed by the amazing sight of "Giant" Sulphurs. They had a wingspan of nearly 5 inches, which for sulphur butter flies is huge. It's one of those Januarys I will never forget. This year, January was unusually frigid. Mother nature is so fickle! Anyway, here are some lovely selections form YouTube citizens extraordinaire in the butterfly world:



​


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## percysunshine

I 


Tipsycatlover said:


> Sorry
> I just had to



I was guessing the video would end with the dog flipping and eating the butterfly...glad I was wrong...


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## badger2

With a husky's great sense of smell, did it know the butterfly was poisonous?

1. In the sulphur videos above, badger2 lived in Florida and during collecting years never knew of one that had a wingspan of 5 in. Colias gigantea reaches 2.2 in. and Phoebis sennae can get to 3.25 in. How were the 5 in. specimens measured? Those would be new to science?

2.) The sennae plants and critical mass mentioned are important. In Wisconsin are developing a system for a few select plants in grown in containers for anti-cancer studies. For example, Hamamelis virginiana can be grown in containers for a number of years before becoming too unwieldy. Having enough material for experiments is crucial for this anti-cancer trajectory.

3.) The black markings on the edge of these butterfly forewings of the sulphurs link to melanin production and gene patterns that occur during development with critical time spans even within 24 hour periods. The Notch gene pathway in human cancer links to a wavy-edged wing also seen in moths of the Noctuidae as well as in fruitflies (Drosophila).


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## badger2

USMB Current Events has the monkey thread for MCPH1 gene. It is transferred here due to the connection of miR-27a with one of our chosen lepidoptera medical models, Papaipema cerina, host plant being Podophyllum peltatum. Etoposide is the evolution of such anti-cancer compounds from Podophyllum. The investigative trajectory will include chemistry of resistance and sensitivity to ionizing radiation, which likely evolved in Papaipema and other lepidoptera as protective mechanisms akin to the DDR (DNA damage response) in humans.

'miRNAs have potential to function as signal transducers by directly targeting kinases involved in DDR. For example, ATM (a DDR gene) has been shown to be a gene target of a variety of miRNAs (micro RNA), including miR-223, miR-181a, miR-26a, miR27a, miR-214, and miR-18a. These miRNAs enhance sensitivity to IR (ionizing radiation) and etoposide by regulating the ATM-mediated signaling pathway (ataxia-telangiectasia mutated). There are reports of miR-101 directly targeting DNA-PKcs, thereby sensitizing the non-small cell lung cancer cells to IR....these studies showed that miRNAs regulate DNA damage response by acting as signal transducers.'
(Arjumand W, et al, Noncoding RNAs in DNA Damage Response: Opportunities for Cancer Therapeutics, in MicroRNA and Cancer, Humana Press 2018)

MCPH1 / miR-27a
Primary microcephaly gene MCPH1 shows a novel molecular biomarker of human renal carcinoma and is regulated by miR-27a.  - PubMed - NCBI

Cancer Mascot Lepidoptera: Papaipema cerina on Podophyllum peltatum
https://gtapestry.com/2008/05/papaipema-cerina.html


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## badger2

Gossamer Tapestry: Papaipema cerina


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## badger2

There is some difference in pronunciation of the genus. Entomologists that badger2 have spoken with pronounce it as five syllables, with accent on the third: pa-puh-I-pe-ma. Rearing it on carrots will be avoided because such things as increased retinoids may interfere with a metabolic profile afforded by the Podophyllum. It starts out on various grasses, so the diet and life cycle is a bit more complex than other moths.


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## beautress

Black swallowtails like these plants:  fennel, dill, parsley, carrot

​


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## beautress

Black Swallowtails have many beautiful looks...


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## beautress

Black Swallowtail Butterfly, Papilion Polyxenes
They're a bit dimorphic from what I gleaned at Wikipedia, with the male having a dominant yellow color on its upper wings, and the females with brighter blue markings below.
I. e.: males
(Master gardeners)





v. females
(Master Gardeners)




I see quite a few of them here in the lovely piney woods area of Walker County, Texas. 
This specie is the state butterfly of Oklahoma, so they say. 

One other thing about the Black swallowtail, is that if they live their lives out escaping predators, they live longer than most butterflies do, as their natural lifespan is about a year. Many butterflies are gone in a couple of weeks, more or less.


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## badger2

Black Swallowtail Time Lapse


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## beautress

badger2 said:


> Black Swallowtail Time Lapse


Wow, that happens so fast, badger2. Good video.


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## badger2

Having just left Hamilton, Montana in 2006 after meeting Dr. Willy Burgdorfer, the discoverer of the Lyme disease agent, a trip across Skalkaho Pass:

Skalkaho Checkerspots
Euphydryas anicia howlandi (pinned specimens, page 1)

Skalkaho Pass, Montana


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## badger2

Several of the genus Papaipema are shown in this video beginning at time-point 17:17. P. cerina is one of the chosen cancer-studies moths for 2019:

Prairie Moths


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## beautress

Thanks, badger2. That was quite some ride through Montana! And a beautiful checkerspot, too at the link. And the ones just above this look a lot like Atlas Moths. Fascinating! Fabulous, your video. 
(My notepad below)
Wow! A crystal-winged moth. Almost looks like a hummingbird. Lots of really pretty ones.Thanks for showing the very special moth video. Just amazing! Into about 25 minutes of the 47. Raspbery Pyrausta is pretty! And the Clouded Veneer makes a camouflage tunnel to get at the leaves without detection. Whoa!!!! I never saw anything even remotely like a leaf mine that I can recollect. What a little critter! So you can mash up and ferment a banana and brown sugar, paint it on some bark and attract moths. (at 32 minutes on the youtube above.) Peterson Field Guide to Moths, Caterpillars of Eastern North America by David Wagner; Bug Guide website, Moth photography pages, online, load into Bing search engine for sites. Burnt fields are hard on insects, and that would be bad for the environmental habitat where birds need protein. Prairie Haven dot com. (Marcie's website) How very beautiful this video you shared is, badger2. Thanks!


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## beautress

I found Marcie's website, and are there ever some lovely butterfly pictures she made here: Butterflies – Prairie Haven


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## badger2

Yes, this summer's plans include sugaring for moths. W.J.Holland, in his Moth Book gives a recipe that is mainly a mix of molasses and beer. Wagner's Caterpillars of Eastern North America is a quite detailed work and mentions the disappearance of Papaipema cerina in the eastern parts of the U.S., a disappearance whose cause is yet to be brought to light. If P. cerina is found in Wisconsin, it will be a rare find. One of its plants, Podophyllum is already up and growing in southern Wi.

Prairie Haven's webpage is remarkable, covering almost all moths of the region and great photography. Any field notes from badger2 will be sent to Prairie Haven to reinforce its educational content. Marcie's butterfly page shows Polygonia comma, which was the first sighted butterfly of the season, this weekend in southern Wi.

On foot out of Hamilton, Montana, the walk into Skalkaho was disturbing without a gun. Thick tree growth covered with Usnea moss grew right down to the road and one thinks about dangerous animals such as female moose with young. A fire had recently claimed 11,000 acres of timber, so most of the country was not normally green. Rides were offered across the pass towards Anaconda, and one local complained that the trees were not being allowed to be harvested. However, logging the wood would create slash that rodents would use for cover, increasing the possibility that some may vector Rocky Mountain Spotted fever. Woodman, Montana (no longer a post-office location) was where the most deadly strain of RMSF was found, a strain that killed its victims, if left untreated, in six days. A few years back, someone in Oklahoma went for a weekend outing and contracted RMSF. She ended up a quadruple amputee.

Badger2 has just received a packet of Silybum marianum (Milk Thistle) and the plants are a favorite of Vanessa cardui, a mascot cancer-studies butterfly and a favorite of the goldfinch. The search for Wisconsin native grass seeds, Elymus hystrix, will provide one host for forthcoming Papaipema cerina life-cycle studies.

Yes, the Prometheus (Callosamia promethea) in the video above feeds on Sassafras, at least in Michigan. Their cocoons are easily found on these trees, if the local population is stable with its host tree.


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## beautress

Gift from Australia Blue Cracker Butterfly






















​


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## beautress

Personal favorite--blue clipper butterfly from Singapore aka _Parthenos Sylvia_
















​


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## beautress

More Blue Parthenos Sylvia, a Mylasian resident





















Saw one of these at the Houston Cockrell Butterfly Center Thought I'd died and gone to Heaven. *sigh*

​


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## badger2

If the center at Houston has Parthenos sylvia, the host plants are:

Adenia palmata (Passifloraceae), A. penangiana, Tinospora cordifolia (Menispermaceae, Moonseed), and an unidentified member of the Cucurbitaceae. It seems possible that the P. sylvia was reared in Texas and could be reared elsewhere under proper conditions. While not the actual species of Adenia, one Adenia species has activity against neuroblastoma brain-cancer cells at an extremely low dose, which is pharmaceutically significant..


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## beautress

Badger2, you are amazing. The butterfly center in Houston that I love so is a 4-story glass edifice containing a lot of exotic plants and many more butterflies than I could ever name. So butterflies are curing people with cancer? I read something you said about that the other day. I'm just awed. Which one does in lung cancer? If there is one, that is.


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## badger2

These butterflies and  moths feed on documented anti-cancer plants, though it's not the quite the same thing as humans taking the refined chemistry for cancer. To study these associations should yield information that can be useful to cancer medicine. For example for lung cancer, suggested is etoposide from mayapple, Podophyllum sp., and one moth has already been mentioned, Papaipema cerina. Humans developing drug resistance to etoposide would then compare with P. cerina's ability to develop an immunity to the poison (etoposide)  a desensitization against the etoposide. But what else might etoposide afford the moth? We think that one thing is resistance to UV irradiation, even though it is a night-flying moth. This protection chemistry may be easier to prove in butterflies, but both can be compared with radiotherapy-resistant cancers that develop in humans.


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## beautress

badger2 said:


> These butterflies and  moths feed on documented anti-cancer plants, though it's not the quite the same thing as humans taking the refined chemistry for cancer. To study these associations should yield information that can be useful to cancer medicine. For example for lung cancer, suggested is etoposide from mayapple, Podophyllum sp., and one moth has already been mentioned, Papaipema cerina. Humans developing drug resistance to etoposide would then compare with P. cerina's ability to develop an immunity to the poison (etoposide)  a desensitization against the etoposide. But what else might etoposide afford the moth? We think that one thing is resistance to UV irradiation, even though it is a night-flying moth. This protection chemistry may be easier to prove in butterflies, but both can be compared with radiotherapy-resistant cancers that develop in humans.


Wow, the golden borer moth is one I'd not run across recently anyway. Papaipema cerina - Will go checking out bing some more.























​


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## badger2

Thanks for these nice shots of P. cerina. Its first host plants are grasses, and 200 seeds of Elymus hystrix (= Hystrix patula) are now in seed pots germinating. Another P. cerina host plant, mayapple (Podophyllum), 10 seeds of which have been placed in the refrigerator for 12 weeks to break dormancy, after which they will be planted in 70 degrees F potting soil for germination. Mayapples are now for sale at some nurseries. The adult moths in Wisconsin fly from Sept to Oct and are attracted to black-lights. It is not known if they can be attracted to sugar baits.

Bottlebrush Grass, Elymus hystrix
illinoiswildflowers.info/grasses/plants/bottlebrush.htm

Also on bottlebrush grass is Northern Pearly Eye, Enodia anthedon
Northern Pearly-eye Enodia anthedon A.H. Clark, 1936 | Butterflies and Moths of North America


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## beautress

badger2 said:


> Thanks for these nice shots of P. cerina. Its first host plants are grasses, and 200 seeds of Elymus hystrix (= Hystrix patula) are now in seed pots germinating. Another P. cerina host plant, mayapple (Podophyllum), 10 seeds of which have been placed in the refrigerator for 12 weeks to break dormancy, after which they will be planted in 70 degrees F potting soil for germination. Mayapples are now for sale at some nurseries. The adult moths in Wisconsin fly from Sept to Oct and are attracted to black-lights. It is not known if they can be attracted to sugar baits.
> 
> Bottlebrush Grass, Elymus hystrix
> illinoiswildflowers.info/grasses/plants/bottlebrush.htm
> 
> Also on bottlebrush grass is Northern Pearly Eye, Enodia anthedon
> Northern Pearly-eye Enodia anthedon A.H. Clark, 1936 | Butterflies and Moths of North America


Maple syrup is slightly sweeter than sugar and has phytonutrients for humans that is said to protect the brain. I think if you mashed a banana and poured a little maple syrup into the mix, you could paint it on a white wall and get a bunch of really nice moths if you picked a tree they especially like. But I'm not a moth. What do I know except the rudiments of a college nutrition I couldn't wait to see what was in the next chapter. I wonder what would happen if it was placed on a floral fabric sheet hung by a bright outdoor night light? I became addicted to maple syrup after visiting Vermont and New Hampshire in their season of spectacularly-colored trees. Oh, bananas contain a large degree of potassium, the mineral that eases muscular pain of those with chronic pain of  Good wishes in your mission to learn and know moths and their secrets. Phytonutrients are famous for extending the years on people's lifes, in a way I am sure nutritional scientists are still finding out which phytonutrient does what. If I want to know what a plant does, I look up the plant's medicinal use on Bing! search. Badger, you've added a whole new realm to what butterflies do. Someday they'll be calling you the father of Lepidoptera studies.


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## badger2

There were many previous fathers of lepidoptera studies, and W.J. Holland (The Moth Book), had a recipe for sugaring that contained molasses, brown sugar and stale beer. If one knew adult flight times, it would be interesting to attempt to attract Dryocampa rubicunda, because one of its host plants is sugar maple (Acer saccharinum), beer, maple syrup, bananas, etc.

Dryocampa rubicunda
mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodgers=7715

The mayapple-lung cancer connection is also for Striped Hairstreak, Satyrium liparops, and for those who live in the West, a map is provided here that shows occurrence in east Texas, which would align with the populations of mayapple in that state: 

Striped Hairstreak, Satyrium liparops
Striped Hairstreak Satyrium liparops (Leconte, 1833) | Butterflies and Moths of North America
(Click on circles to view slides)

This hairstreak also is found on Salix (willow), Amelanchier, Betula, Carya, Crataegus, Malus (apple), Prunus (plum), Liquidambar (sweetgum), and Carpinus.


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## badger2

mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=7715


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## badger2

Dryocampa rubicunda —  “Rosy maple moth”


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## beautress

Oh, I'm trying to recuperate from loving all those rosy maple moths that I've loved pictures of for years, but never have seen one up close here in Walker County, TX. My grandmother, Mattie (Rawlinson) Shurtleff, made Mayhaw jelly from the Mayhaw trees every year, because some of her sisters and brothers, the Rawlinsons clan lived near Cushing, where my mother was born, in East Texas. There are a lot of Mayhaw trees thereabouts. I think they lived in Nacogdoches County where the family produced 27 Rawlinson brothers and sisters, 22 of whom made it to adulthood. My grandmother was the second youngest, and she lived to be 97 years old. She never had cancer, either. I think the other name for the Mayhaw tree her family had a bunch of is Mayapple. Tell me, badger2, does the occurrence of lung cancer decrease in areas where the Mayapple tree in East Texas, or is it the other way around? I tried to plant a Mayhaw tree here in Walker County (2 hours south of Nacogdoches County), but it didn't do very well. A couple of years later, I found a tree in its stead that was small, and had a similar leaf, but in 5 years, it has never once produced anything remotely resembling a flower. 
But it's now about 6 or 7 feet tall, and I'm not even sure it came up from the roots of the tree I planted. One thing I did not inherit was a youth spent on an East TX farm like Grandma Shurtleff, although as a kid, I got to go with Grandma and Grandpa Shurtleff up to the All-Day Singings in Looneyville, near Nacogdoches/Cushing. It was totally fun. Grandpa was a minister's son, and he knew just everybody and could sing all their gospel songs in any key with his "5-octave-range" voice. So thanks for the memory trip in mentioning the Mayapple, I hadn't thought about that stuff in years. 

I love that little hairstreak buttefly, but if there are any here, I have seen pictures of them, but they just don't come around and wave any flags to announce their precious presence. I've seen a lot of pictures of them in some of my books, who knows. I might have seen one 5 or 6 years ago, just not too sure. I may have to go back up to East Texas one of these days to seek a tree, aren't they supposed to only grow near a bog or something? Well, I can water the ground, and the unknown tree that came up in the vicinity of where I'd planted a Mayhaw tree seems to like the well-watered ground I put it in. This land is odd. I have 3 or 4 places out front where it's moist through June, but the second-third year I moved back to Texas after 45 years, we had that horrible drought year where it was so hot fires just ignited everywhere from Texarkana to Brownsville, if memory served me right. One day in 2011, I went outside and there were fire columns 7 in a 360 degree circle. I got on that tractor and mowed fence 30' out from every boundary fence I had, in case a neighbor had a fire. Oh, my goodness I was gonna see if you had left a message here, and there were 3. Thanks, badger2, I'll try to get some pictures up but today's going to busy, so it may be another day before I get back here. See if I can find some stuff on other websites. I really loved the 2 of your posts, and will also try to check out that middle one. I have to use all the strategies I've forgotten about the internet, because I took a few years off to mourn my husband's death, and he was ill for 2 years before that, which kept me offline due to he had the kind of dementia where he would hop in the car and go till the gas ran out on the worst days, and he and the car would disappear for every other night after I fell asleep. Friends would tell me they say him out "often" around midnight. I used to sleep like a log. I had to be vigilant, too, because the training nurses who we hired to watch him at night turned out not to be very vigilant and would instead of watching over him, fall asleep for several hours of each shift. blech. It was terrible, so the last 6 months or so of his life, I was the chef, cop, incarceration officer, janitor, and bottlewasher. lol One day, he fell asleep while we were watching videos, and he never woke up. I couldn't do anything more purposeful than make quilts for the next 2 years, and mow our animalless farmstead. Instead, I've watched several great white egrets raise families out there on my little manmade lake, Trees fall due to overmowing, and in general, do stupid stuff since I was raised in a city, not on a farm. I buy those 
Farmer's Almanacs every year, but get to busy mowing and sewing to pay attention to them, and to water my little fledgling unknown tree, hoping its a Mayapple that will have flowers sometime.  This would have been the year because it rained all through the winter every day for 7 months, and it looks like rain today after the longest 2 day stretch of clear skies. I mowed all day yesterday, and ate a couple of dozen little east-Texas blackberries. They were sure tart for all that rain we had. Only about 3 of them were sweet, from the vine that produces the largest berries. Lordy, what a long-winded post. Sorry.


----------



## beautress

badger2 said:


> mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=7715



Oh, my! There are rosy maple moths a couple of counties north of here. Before badger2's middle post above, I thought rosy maples were only found on the eastern board Yankee states. lol Thanks again, badger2. 






Source: Moth Photographers Group – Dryocampa rubicunda – 7715​


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## badger2

Mayhaw is a problematic common name. Do you mean mayapple? What is mayhaw's scientific name? Mayapple (Podophyllum) is not a tree, it's a plant . I was just speaking with a cancer doctor this morning and when I mentioned etoposide he said lung cancer. Yes, mayapple (source of etoposide) use links strongly to lung cancer therapeutics. Did any of the family eat mayapples or use any part of the plant? All parts seem toxic, though the "apples" themselves may have been boiled in the past. The etoposide (a podophyllotoxin) would be located in the roots of the mayapple,which roots are extremely toxic. People may have used the apple itself for food or medicine. In other words, it's not known for sure that other active constituents can act as cancer preventive agents.

Identify a local Walker County tree: boxelder (Acer negundo). That is also a host tree for the rosy maple moth, and should be abundant in Walker County. If one knew when the moths local flight occurred in those dotted counties on the map, one could maybe use black lights to attract them, sugar baits may not work unless they feed as adults (there is still their olfactory sense that could attract them to maple-like volatiles). If you plant a row of boxelder or other maples, they could serve to establish your own colony of them. Maps can be wrong, though they can strip maple trees if the population gets too large.

People no longer use mayapples as they did in the past, so the question of lung cancer demographics can't be answered. If there was folk use of the plant, it was likely used to remove warts, with the exception of some Indians:

Mayapple / Penobscot Indians
Mayapple - Lung Cancer - Pharmacological Sciences


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## badger2

It is an African moth, Blastobasis kenya, that feeds on the Adenia species linked to brain cancer.

Adenia stenodactyla Harms / Neuroblastoma
Apoptosis and necroptosis induced by stenodactylin in neuroblastoma cells can be completely prevented through caspase inhibition plus catalase or n...  - PubMed - NCBI

African Moths
AFRICAN MOTHS


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## badger2

Moths page: drag cursor over image to identify the specimen.


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## beautress

badger2 said:


> Mayhaw is a problematic common name. Do you mean mayapple? What is mayhaw's scientific name? Mayapple (Podophyllum) is not a tree, it's a plant . I was just speaking with a cancer doctor this morning and when I mentioned etoposide he said lung cancer. Yes, mayapple (source of etoposide) use links strongly to lung cancer therapeutics. Did any of the family eat mayapples or use any part of the plant? All parts seem toxic, though the "apples" themselves may have been boiled in the past. The etoposide (a podophyllotoxin) would be located in the roots of the mayapple,which roots are extremely toxic. People may have used the apple itself for food or medicine. In other words, it's not known for sure that other active constituents can act as cancer preventive agents.
> 
> Identify a local Walker County tree: boxelder (Acer negundo). That is also a host tree for the rosy maple moth, and should be abundant in Walker County. If one knew when the moths local flight occurred in those dotted counties on the map, one could maybe use black lights to attract them, sugar baits may not work unless they feed as adults (there is still their olfactory sense that could attract them to maple-like volatiles). If you plant a row of boxelder or other maples, they could serve to establish your own colony of them. Maps can be wrong, though they can strip maple trees if the population gets too large.
> 
> People no longer use mayapples as they did in the past, so the question of lung cancer demographics can't be answered. If there was folk use of the plant, it was likely used to remove warts, with the exception of some Indians:
> 
> Mayapple / Penobscot Indians
> Mayapple - Lung Cancer - Pharmacological Sciences


Thank you, badger2. The Mayhaw tree is small as I understand it to be, and thrives in bogs. We don't have some bogs down here in Walker County, but not like those in and around Nacogdoches. Grandma only used the small apple-like fruits to cook and make into "mayhaw jelly." I really don't know, the Mayapple could well be a different specie, so maybe I better go do a little research. The jelly was very nice and by comparison to apple jelly, was rather sprightly good, not bland like the jelly made from apples, and the jelly also was a little pinker than the golden tone apple jellies take. BRB.

Article: New World Food
I found a picture of a mature mayhaw tree (which may have been pruned for picking purposes, I don't know for sure) and its fruit.






Map of mayhaw country (darkened)





 < Grandma's jelly was a lighter reddish color than this jar.

The article says:
The word _mayhaw_ is actually short for "May Hawthorn."  I confess that when I was a kid, I thought the word must be a Native word...not so much it turns out.  The Latin botanical designations are _Crataegus aestivalis_ and _C. opaca_, which are officially known as "Eastern May Hawthorn" and "Western Mayhaw" respectively.  Both are closely related species or the great _Rosacae_ family....yeah ROSES!  In fact, these "berries" look like and are actually large rose hips (last year I posted a Harvest Season bit on hips, that post can be found here).  Also in the family are Apples.  Most Hawthorn trees have serious thorns on them, just like most roses, but the May species really love water.  In their native range, they are often found growing by small streams in the wild; although they are frequently cultivated and successfully cultivated away from a running water source.  The mature fruits look exactly between a rose hip and apple.

I think this is a different tree than your mayapple plant. Sorry, I knew that the Mayhaw fruit was related to apples, but not as well as above ^^^.

When I saw the word "mayapple," I thought it was just a variation of location in a different area than Mayhaws, which are quite limited in scope to the middle southeast US. Pardon my bad memory. Grandma (born, 1899)  died when she was 98(?) in 1996, I think. I just remember I wish I'd been closer to her, she might have made it to be 100. We lived in Wyoming at the time but came back to Texas in 2009, to be close to my younger sister, who had cancer. I wanted to be near at hand if she needed me. Bless her sweet heart.

Now, I'm going to look up May apples. 

​


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## beautress

Mayapple, _Podophylum peltatum,_ I counted 7 petals per flower on the several pictures I saw on bing images search engine.


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## beautress

Areas where _Podophylum peltatum_ grows:







It shows it growing in Walker County, where the Sam Houston National Forest is partially located. I saw a lot more of pictures showing clumps of Mayapples growing in wooded, near sunless areas.

American Mayapple Fruit (Scientific name is Podophyllum peltatum L.)



Podophyllum - Wikipedia​Badger2, on the chance you might share your knowledge or learn from theirs, I am including the Wikipedia article's bibliography in the hopes the links are current. I pray you all have a lot in common scientifically. I'm glad to know that both plants are know to grow in my count after looking at the maps, but I'm sure they'd love to know what you do about this unique plant:

*References[edit]*

*^* 1896 illustration from Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen
*^* The Plant List, _Podophyllum peltatum_ L.
*^* Linnaeus, Carl von. 1753. Species Plantarum 1: 505 in Latin
*^* Tropicos, _Podophyllum_ L.
^ Jump up to: _*a*_ _*b*_ Flora of North America, Vol. 3, _Podophyllum_ Linnaeus
*^* "_Podophyllum peltatum_". _Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN)_. Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 28 March 2015.
*^* _Plants for a Future_, retrieved 28 March 2015
*^* "_Podophyllum L._". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
*^* Biota of North America Program 2013 county distribution map
*^* http://www.eattheweeds.com/podophyllum-peltatum-forgotten-fruit-2/
*^* _Podophyllum peltatum_ at USDA PLANTS Database
*^* Watson, M.A. and five others. 2001. The developmental ecology of mycorrhizal associations in mayapple, _Podophyllum peltatum_, Berberidaceae. Evolutionary Ecology 15: 425–442.
*^* "Puccinia podophyllin Schwein. Mayapple rust". Iowa State University, Ada Hayden Herbarium (ISC). Retrieved 2013-03-16.
*^* Bunyard, Britt A. 2013 "Mayapple Rust Resurrection" _FUNGI_ 6(1): 38–39.
*^* Blanchan, Neltje (2002). _Wild Flowers: An Aid to Knowledge of our Wild Flowers and their Insect Visitors_. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.
*^* Moraes, R.M., H. Lata, E. Bedir, M. Maqbool, and K. Cushman. 2002. _On American Mayapple as a practical source of podophyllotoxin_ p. 527–532. In: J. Janick and A. Whipkey (eds.), Trends in new crops and new uses. ASHS Press, Alexandria, VA.
^ Jump up to: _*a*_ _*b*_ Ernest Small and Paul M. Catling (1999), "_Podophyllum peltatum_ L. (May-apple)", _Canadian Medicinal Crops_, NRC Research Press
*^* Brunton LL et al. _Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics_, chapter: _61. Cytotoxic agents/Epipodophyllotoxins_ Twelfth Edition ISBN 978-0-07-162442-8
*^* Lewis, W.H. and M.P.F. Elvin-Lewis. 1977. Medical Botany. Plants Affecting Man's Health. Wiley, New York. 515 p. p. 123-124.
*External links[edit]*



 Media related to _Podophyllum_ at Wikimedia Commons


 Data related to _Podophyllum_ at Wikispecies
Well, fiddlesticks. The links don't work, but the same links do work at the bottom of this page: Podophyllum - Wikipedia
I bet you know what these folks might care to know if they don't already. Sorry for being a rank amateur in the scientific community. 

Well the links worked once I posted them, but didn't work in my posting field. lol
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## badger2

Yes, may haw tree is Crataegus species, and mayapple is Podophyllum, a plant. So the previous question is if anyone that you know of used the mayapple fruit or other parts of the plant in answer to the question of geography and cancer that you brought up.


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## badger2

One butterfly that eats anti-cancer mayapple is Euptoieta claudia.

Euptoieta claudia
Euptoieta claudia - Wikipedia


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## beautress

badger2 said:


> Yes, may haw tree is Crataegus species, and mayapple is Podophyllum, a plant. So the previous question is if anyone that you know of used the mayapple fruit or other parts of the plant in answer to the question of geography and cancer that you brought up.


They're on the map, but I haven't been to the forest in a few years, and have only the vaguest memory of seeing some plants that were covering the forest floor like those ones, although so vague, I really didn't make a mental note of it. And I just got into my narrow little world of fibromyalgia treatment with homeopathic remedies, I hadn't noticed that plant as a treatment. I've just become fascinated with the plants as if about 3 years ago when thev local good will stores got overpublications of books like " herbal cures and what they do." and "kitchen cures" ( I studied nutrition in college. That just lit my fire after getting fibro, a disease the doctors in Wyoming didn't know how to treat well enough without keeping you out of pain with relieving you of the use of your brain, so instead of taking it, I just put up with a lot of pain for 15 years until I got some books that gave hope and helped me minimize the pain for the first time in all those years of pain 24/7/52/365, no breaks in the screaming out loud pain. Now it's pass the pepper and other stuff! When we moved back to Texas, my new doctor was an osteopath, took some samples of blood, and said, let's get another test, your calcium is high. Well that was high, too, so she ordered a cat scan of my neck, discovered 2 bad parathyroids of the four, and surgery removed the bad ones. It took a year for all the bone spurs and whatever to settle out of my system, and I am pain free, but not free of all the other treacherous little demons that follow autoimmune diseases. Anyhow, that's why this subject just fascinates me--all about plants, and when you connected butterflies with diseases, it got my curiosity up, though I don't quite understand all the words, your details are excellent.  When I was browsing the internet for a few more hours with re to the May apples and the May haws, I landed on one server that brought up 20 different plants (including the may apple) that cure diseases, and I found one to work on my bronchitis with. It was called "aloe vera." I though if it cures lung cancer, it may get rid of my chronic bronchitis. I stopped coughing 3 hours after imbibing in some aloe vera juice purchased a couple of weeks ago, and I mixed it with berry juice cocktail I had on hand to dilute it as directed. You're supposed to go lightly on aloe vera, so first thing before I go to bed tonight, I'm taking a lesser dose with honey water. Local honey is supposed to help build the immune system, so that's all I've bought to sweeten tea with for the last 2 years since I came across all this information, which occasionally sends me out to look up stuff like "health benefits of celery..." lol I should be taking that to prevent ankle swelling due to circulatory problems that make my life sedentary, unfortunately.

Thanks for your more than amazing posts, badger2, and may you find a lot more cures from studying them with such selfless devotion to what is going on with this animal that results in......(fill in the blank.) It would never have otherwise occurred to me that animal issues or their omission of this issue and connected it with botanical appetites for certain plants and to apply a little common sense to see whether it would be beneficent to human beings. Now, when it rains hard, my computer goes out till it stops, so for the last couple of days, it just automatically stops when I hear the rain pounding on the metal roof, and it makes quite a clatter. Hopefully in a couple of days when the sun is due back for a day or two, the Lepidoptera kingdom will domino into visions of flight again. About 4 years ago, Walker County had a fritillary year, and I just walked in a daze around my little 14 acre plot of weeds, springs, Freedom Lake, (aka kidney-bean shaped pond), and trees galore, with seasonal creeks on both sides of the narrow strip the acreage is located on. There were more than one species, and one was so jaw-dropping beautiful I could hardly believe my eyes. Our gulf coast frittilaries are flit about with a wingspan of about 3.5"x1.25". They will actually light on the tall purple flowers that came up out of nowhere that year, but were gone the next year, along with most of the fritillaries that were thick in the thicket. I'll see if I can find some similar fritillaries, and I'm sorry I don't know all their names, just that I love seeing them mid-summer on good luck years when the right flowers are growing. The really drop dead good looking ones took to those over-head-tall purple weedy flowers. Oh, and the flowers were the best perfume bar none that I ever inhaled.








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## beautress




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## badger2

What causes the silver spots? Gulf fritillary Agraulis vanillae, feeds on Passiflora, passionfruit (in Florida), Corchorus (in Jamaica) and Lonicera honeysuckle (in Brazil). All three host plants have connections to medicine:

2016  Lonicera hypoglauca Breast Cancer Silver Nanoparticles
In-vitro anticancer activity of green synthesized silver nanoparticles on MCF-7 human breast cancer cells.  - PubMed - NCBI

2018  Corchorus Gold Nanoparticles for 3 Cancer Types
Successful Green Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles using a Corchorus olitorius Extract and Their Antiproliferative Effect in Cancer Cells.  - PubMed - NCBI

Passion Fruit Imaging for Cancer Diagnosis
Dual photoacoustic/ultrasound multi-parametric imaging from passion fruit-like nano-architectures.  - PubMed - NCBI


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## beautress

badger2 said:


> Yes, may haw tree is Crataegus species, and mayapple is Podophyllum, a plant. So the previous question is if anyone that you know of used the mayapple fruit or other parts of the plant in answer to the question of geography and cancer that you brought up.


I don't know of anyone, badger2.


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## badger2

One answer to your question of whether there is cancer where mayapple grows is found in Maine's Penobscot Indians, who did get cancer and also used mayapple against it. A Penobscot anti-cancer moth would be Papaipema rutila.

Papaipema rutila Map
mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=9484

P. cerina Map
mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=9464


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## beautress

badger2 said:


> One answer to your question of whether there is cancer where mayapple grows is found in Maine's Penobscot Indians, who did get cancer and also used mayapple against it. A Penobscot anti-cancer moth would be Papaipema rutila.
> 
> Papaipema rutila Map
> mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=9484
> 
> P. cerina Map
> mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=9464


You are totally amazing, badger2. Awesome post. thanks.


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## beautress

In the meantime, I was just thinking that there probably isn't a child in the local school system that doesn't know that the Monarch butterfly protects itself (and has for eons we humans know little of) by gravitating toward a plant that is poisonous inside and beautiful outside, the lovely milkweed plant that is hardy from Mexico up to Canada. And I found a website that answers the question of "*How do butterflies protect themselves?*" My guess is this is only a partial list, because other than their showy wings, butterflies do not shout out all their secrets of survival, although the use means we humans could profit from if we were as sensitive to their thinking as badger2 is:






*Butterflies use warning colors and concentrations of poison within their bodies to ward off predators.*
They also utilize camouflage, large eye spots, mimicry and flight to avoid being eaten.​
Poisonous butterflies, such as monarch butterflies, consume toxic plants. In the case of the monarch, the toxic plant of choice is milk weed. The butterflies are immune to the poison, but they sequester it in their bodies rather than excrete it, so that if a predator eats them, they become sick and develop an aversion to any other butterfly that resembles the one that made them ill.

Poisonous butterflies have flashy wings to reinforce the association between appearance and illness. Some non-poisonous butterflies mimic the appearance of poisonous ones to imply that they too make predators sick.

Other species have enormous spots on their wings that resemble eyes. These eye spots make the animal look much larger when their wings are spread, scaring off and surprising potential predators.

Some butterfly wings are designed to resemble vegetation or tree bark. Some species even have transparent wings. These adaptations serve as camouflage, making it easy for the insects to avoid predators by going unseen.

Finally, butterflies can be fast fliers, and their distinct fluttering motion makes it difficult for predators to determine where they will go next, making pursuit difficult. Butterflies called skippers have been recorded at more than 30 miles per hour.

How Do Butterflies Protect Themselves?

*Variegated Fritillary*
_Euptoieta Claudia_




​*Euptoieta claudia*, the *variegated fritillary*, is a North and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. Even though the variegated fritillary has some very different characteristics from the _Speyeria_ fritillaries, it is still closely related to them. Some of the differences are: variegated fritillaries have two or three broods per year vs. one per year in _Speyeria_; they are nomadic vs. sedentary; and they use a wide range of host plants vs. just violets. And because of their use of passionflowers as a host plant, variegated fritillaries also have taxonomic links to the heliconians. Their flight is low and swift, but even when resting or nectaring, this species is extremely difficult to approach, and, because of this, its genus name was taken from the Greek word _euptoietos_ meaning "easily scared".



























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## beautress

The variegated frittilary also has interesting differences in cocoons and eggs, too.





































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## badger2

The info above for Euptoieta claudia (variegated fritillary), does not seem to mention an important link to the toxic  monarch, Danaus plexippus. The link is via the Milkweed family, Asclepiadaceae, that we found last year to connect the fritillary to Arizona, because mayapples stop occurring past Texas (on the east-west axis). The host plants that link monarch to fritillary are:

Danaus plexippus hostplants include Cynanchum angustifolium and C. laeve (Asclepiadaceae).

Euptoieta claudia hostplants include Cynanchum arizonicum (Asclepiadaceae).

The variations of color in the E. claudia chrysalis (shown above) seem more varied in comparison to the monarch chrysalis, and the former is an authentic anti-cancer butterfly (hostplants include mayapple, Podophyllum.)


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## beautress

Thanks, badger2. Today it was a nice day, and I took my Kubota tractor/grass trimmer to the back of my little 14 acres, fijorded the floodplain area to trim along the fencelines that are all grown up with you-name-it young trees, a couple I recognize as like oak variations, and others. As I was crossing the uncut hayfield to get to the back fence, I noticed these huge black fuzzy caterpillars everywhere, and when I saw one, I quit mowing the area in case they were some kind of butterfly. Another area I quit mowing was when I saw this strange little black butterfly criss-crossing on the ground, probably because the Kubota shakes the ground a little it is so loud. I got off the mower to look at him, but he was just thrashing about on the ground, although I had not mowed that area (and left it, too). He was about 2 1/4 inches (estimated wingspan), maybe a little less or more, but his wings were hunched down, as the little critter was a little greater than an inch, but less than an inch and a half (I have a quilter's eye for fabrics, since I daily cut 1 1/2" strips for my favorite work in log cabin squares.) Anyway, there he was, and I looked around after that to see if there were any other small black fellows--oh, yes and he had a very plain but quite obvious line along the lower edges of his wing that was the color of Dijon spiced mustard, which is a darkish, dull gold color. I thought for such a tiny little guy he was exquisite in every way, and he really did not like the Kubota's noise, so I edged outta there as quickly as I could, blades off and raised high in a wide circle so as not to crush the cute little feller. I think he may have been "puddling" as to why he was on the ground rather than flying around. They say male butterflies puddle, sometimes in colonies, but I didn't see another butterfly for the rest of the day. And now it's night. I hope I didn't reduce too much habitat of butterflies by making "walk paths" across the land in case I feel like walking around there in the next few days. Out here in Texas land, we have all kinds of bugs, spiders, and snakes, but I saw numerous of these, and didn't know what they'd turn into--  2 1/2 - 3 inch black fuzzy caterpillars -- longer than this one for the same girth:



​For once I didn't know if these caterpillars became the little guy I saw (I doubt it) or if they were black swallowtails or something.

I found a moth that looks like this, except at the base where you see a white edge, the edge was dull gold or beige, called Chimney Sweeper:

Chimney Sweeper - _ Odezia atrata_



​Why would I be seeing a chimney sweeper moth with a gold band at the bottom row of his wings in the Piney Woods region, on a farm plot, in East Texas? hmmm. Chimney Sweeper - _ Odezia atrata_ .  Seems there has to be an American counterpart, and I only saw one this morning, not too early, either. But it was on the ground not far from the metal barn. hmm. He was a charmer, too.


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## beautress

badger2 said:


> The info above for Euptoieta claudia (variegated fritillary), does not seem to mention an important link to the toxic  monarch, Danaus plexippus. The link is via the Milkweed family, Asclepiadaceae, that we found last year to connect the fritillary to Arizona, because mayapples stop occurring past Texas (on the east-west axis). The host plants that link monarch to fritillary are:
> 
> Danaus plexippus hostplants include Cynanchum angustifolium and C. laeve (Asclepiadaceae).
> 
> Euptoieta claudia hostplants include Cynanchum arizonicum (Asclepiadaceae).
> 
> The variations of color in the E. claudia chrysalis (shown above) seem more varied in comparison to the monarch chrysalis, and the former is an authentic anti-cancer butterfly (hostplants include mayapple, Podophyllum.)


Thanks, badger2. Sorry I missed you earlier today. A friend came over and helped me fish my zero turn mower next to Freedom Lake off the small woodpile I landed on 2 weeks ago, trying to put a narrow patch where I could sneak around and watch my family of great egrets return (if it ever stops raining here). I saw one regular egret, a first timer at Freedom lake, unless I was looking at a junior member of the Great egrets who rule Freedom lake in hot weather. They walk the edges of the deeper side of the small lake (2 1/2 acres), and they do not care too much for close human company, so I try to stay out of sight when I'm admiring them.

Oh, and I've had a fruitless chase trying to find an Odezia group in North America, Piney woods area of Texas, and can't find anyone else who saw one. So I may have been looking at a different specie, I made all the mental notes I could and noticed his antennae were thin and long like a butterfly's, but his wingset looked like a moth, plus he was flitting in the midday sun on the grass, which was still heavy with dew since we have only had 2 dry days this week and this was the second one. Well, my search was fruitless and it's getting late.

I found a tribute page to George T. Austin, Lepodopterist: Memorial to George T. Austin [1943-2009]

I'll look up an assortment of butterflies before heading upstairs to melatonin-land. 


















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## Likkmee

Lemme kick this up a dozen notches


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## beautress

Likkmee said:


> Lemme kick this up a dozen notches


Lovely blue morphos, Likkmee. I wondered what their origin was. 
I loved that movie & it's somewhere in my bazillion-dvd collection...


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## beautress

Blue morphos, wonder what kind of plants and flowers they might like if they were brought to the region of the Great Piney Woods...


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## Likkmee

beautress said:


> Blue morphos, wonder what kind of plants and flowers they might like if they were brought to the region of the Great Piney Woods...


No. That " tree of life" is in Tenorio national park on Rio Celeste in Alejuela province, Costa Rica. About 2 hours by car or 45 minutes on horseback from my house.I've seen it like the video. Thousands of morpho laying eggs there.
I suspect Cobalt and many other minerals from the Tenorio volcano( dormant) still "litter" the water because the lizards and snakes and some other insects take on that blue coloration. Those pics aint photoshop. That water is actually that color and the butterfly is damn near scary the first time you see one. Stunning.
Maybe that where smurfs came from too ? 
It's a tough walk to the fall unless your tough. The river is easily accessed from the main road to Upala and there's a bunch of cheapo cabins and stuff along the way from Guatuso north to lake Nicaragua. The electric and roads are sketchy at best. 4WD, flashlights, rain gear and GPS are a must.
Oddly internet is in every inch of the place .....varies from 500k to 6 or even 10 mb....depending.
I just pulled in my coffee farm. Bedtime and raining to beat Hell.


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## beautress

That sounds like a beautiful place,Likeme.. I've seen the tree before online in pictures. I have to look at butterflies at least one day out of every couple of weeks. lol

*Common Name:* Blue Morpho Butterfly





*Type:* Insect
*Family:* Nymphalidae​
*Range:* The most amazing insect in the tropical rainforests of Central America and South America. Blue Morpho is found mainly in forests Throughout the U.S., Mexico, and Costa Rica. It has amazing and beautiful blue wings that can reflect light.

*Size:* Blue Morpho grow up to approximately 5 – 6 inches wide.

*Diet:* The blue morpho’s diet changes throughout each stage of its life. As a caterpillar, it chews leaves. When it becomes a butterfly drinks its food instead. Adults use a long, protruding mouthpart called a proboscis as a drinking straw to sip the juice of rotting fruit, the fluids of decomposing animals, tree sap, fungi and wet mud. Blue morphos taste fruit with sensors on their legs, and they “taste-smell” the air with their antennae, which serve as a combined tongue and nose.

*Average life span:* The life span is one of the shortest. They can live only 115 days. Their time as a butterfly is restricted to reproduction.

*Diet:* The blue morpho’s diet changes throughout each stage of its life. As a caterpillar, it chews leaves. When it becomes a butterfly drinks its food instead. Adults use a long, protruding mouthpart called a proboscis as a drinking straw to sip the juice of rotting fruit, the fluids of decomposing animals, tree sap, fungi and wet mud. Blue morphos taste fruit with sensors on their legs, and they “taste-smell” the air with their antennae, which serve as a combined tongue and nose.

*Average life span:* The life span is one of the shortest. They can live only 115 days. Their time as a butterfly is restricted to reproduction.

*Habitat:* Blue morphos survive in the tropical forests of Latin America from Mexico to Colombia including Costa Rica. Adult’s morphos spend almost all their time on the forest floor and in the lower shrubs and trees of the understory with their wings folded. However, at the time of searching for mates, the blue morphos can fly through all layers of the forest.

*Breeding/Reproduction:* Butterflies live for reproduction; they reproduce and die immediately after laying their eggs. Male butterflies release chemicals called pheromones in their wings and attract as many females as possible. The female’s eggs are fertilized, they lay them in a safe place and flies off. The eggs will hatch after about nine days.

*Blue Morpho Butterfly* comes from the family of Nymphalidae. It is mostly endemic to South and Central America as well in Mexico. It got its name Morpho which means “changed” because of its ability to look like it is changing colors when in flight as well as on halt mode. This was all due to the butterfly’s prominent wings. The blue morpho’s wings spans from five to eight inches. The color of the ventral or the front of the wing is dull brown and it seems to have lots of eyespots to protect them from predators like birds and insects if they closed their wings. The dorsal or the back part is bright blue with a black edged. This bright blue coloring is the result of the microscopic scales which reflects light at its back. When the blue morpho flaps its wings upon flying the bright blue back is in contrast to the front dull brown which makes them look like they are appearing and disappearing into the air. Most male *blue morpho* has broader wings that the females and it appears to be brighter in color while most of the female blue morpho has dull blue wings that has white spots with brown edging.

The Blue Morpho’s life cycle begins when the eggs are hatched into larvae. Then when they become a caterpillar they have more of a brownish red with green patches at the back. They had prickly hair that can irritate predators under threat. These caterpillars mostly eat on leaves but they mostly fancy plants from the pea family. Then it will form into a jade-green chrysalis to start metamorphosis. Then after that an adult *blue morpho butterfly *emerges. At this stage since they cannot chew they drinks its food instead. They use their proboscis which is like a drinking straw to sip fluids of rotten fruits, carcass, tree saps, fungus and even wet mud. They used their legs to taste fruits due to their leg sensors. And their antennae will acts like a combination of their tongue and nose since it can “taste-smell” the air in search for food.

The blue morpho has several species:

*Morpho Menelaus*

One is the Menelaus Blue Morpho which has the scientific name Morpho Menelaus. It is mostly found in Central and South America like *Costa Rica*, Brazil and Venezuela but can go far as Mexico. Their wing spans at the average of 5.9 inches.

*Peleides Blue Morpho*

Second type is the Peleides Blue Morpho also known as the Common Morpho or The Emperor. Its scientific name is Morpho peleides. It is endemic mostly in Mexico, Northern part of South America, Paraguay, Central America and Trinidad

*Blue Morphos* has a life span of 115 days only. Even though they had few months to live some are threatened by their natural predators like the birds and also due to habitat destruction because of loggings and land clearing. Also humans capture and display them due to its bright and beautiful color.


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## beautress

Giant Leopard Moth, _Hypercompe scribonia _


























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## badger2

An inspiring movie and butterfly, Likk! For kids with cancer, what are the possibilities that actual butterflies could be brought into the hospital?

We won't dismiss the anti cancer possibilities, though the morphos may be attracted to the vines on the trees in Alejuela province. Further investigation is required. A Yahoo search, "Machaerium granadensis" will retrieve the entry "Journal of the Lepidopterist's Society (1978)" which is the article entitled, "Studies on the Interactions of Morpho peleides (Morphidae) with Legumonisae,"  which shows photos of the caterpillars. Here is an excerpt:

'In the premontane tropical wet forest life zone of northeastern Costa Rica, a larval foodplant of the butterfly Morpho peleides Kollar is the vine Machaerium aff. floribundum Benth. (Legumonisae). The vine and butterfly occur in stands of mixed primary and secondary tropical wet forest. It is known that M. peleides utilizes several leguminous woody vines and trees as larval foodplants in Costa Rica (Young and Muyshondt, 1973) and the species can be reared on commercially available peanut plants both in Costa Rica and in Wisconsin.'


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## badger2

The apparent Odezia you spotted is doubtful: UK and Europe.

Odezia
Odezia - Wikipedia


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## badger2

Odezia hostplant

Conopodium majus
Conopodium majus - Wikipedia


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## badger2

Hypercompe scribonia hostplants include

Bougainvillea (Nyctaginaceae) USA

Citrus jambhiri (Rutaceae)

C. reticulata USA

Phytolacca americana (Pokeweed) (Phytolaccaceae)

Ricinus communis (Euphorbiaceae)

Taraxacum (dandelion)

Viola

Magnolia

Lonicera

Salix (willow)

Ricinus communis and Phytolacca americana contain ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs), the former poison being ricin, to which there is no antidote. H. scribonia is a remarkable insect.


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## beautress

badger2 said:


> Odezia hostplant
> 
> Conopodium majus
> Conopodium majus - Wikipedia


I looked those up. They're growing near where my little black friend with the tannish border was flailing around, in my furthest back field where I mowed a walker's path yesterday, bordering on the floodplain area close to where the purple flowers were growing that attracted the unique little gulf coast-type fritillaries. The house builder was a veterinarian who specialized in horses, his wife loved perennials, and the people in between grew herbs from around the planet. So I'm not sure how those flowers got here, but it could be these little ground dwelling moth/butterflies only one of which I found could have been brought over here attached to a plant and/or was undiscovered. There are zero solid black small butterflies listed in my Texas butterflies and moths book, so I do not know how that little guy got out there in my field, but if he was born here in May, there are more of them out there somewhere. Plants I've never seen flower before flowered our fourth year here, was when I first noticed them in the orchard area, but this year I may not see them because I am allowing my pastures to be fallow this year instead of planting.

So I don't know how that butterfly got here, but he is not recorded, I guess. I'll have to look through more of my butterfly picture books. I tend to buy books that have quilt-ready looking butterfly beauties on them, but I have many others that date back in time. I'll try and notice where I put them when I replaced my old cookbook area used as a place for butterfly look-ats and then homeopathic kitchen cures books a couple of years ago. Books, books, books!

Maybe they were here all along. The Sam Houston National forest of tall pines was here long before we Americans were. Before we struck oil, people were of the pioneer ilk, working their fingers to the bone on their land, just to get by.

He was sleek, beautiful black. With a rim.


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## beautress

I found ground nuts on Ebay:                                                              



10 seednuts "From France" Conopodium majus
RARE 10 graines de NOIX DE TERRE (Conopodium Majus)H823 PIGNUT SEEDS SAMEN SEMI  | eBay

I have many different types of unknown umbel-blossoming herbals growing wild here. Again, they may or may not be natives, it's just that they're ubiquitous. Not all are exactly alike, but close enough to be the specie Conopodium majus. I'm only showing what's identical-looking to what's growing on my 14 acres that is watered on 2 long sides by a seasonal creek, one of which feeds my Freedom Lake.



















​


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## beautress

Hairpull time over. I found the little critter. Something kept nagging me that it had a red head, and I couldn't remember if I had seen a dull yellow rim or beige, because the shiny black dominated in my recollection. This may be the one I saw, I've been looking at pictures of black moths for literally hours, now, between making pecan and chocolate chip cookies, that is. Umm fresh cookies made with butter. You just can't get them around  here.

Here is  _Ctenucha virginica, Ctenucha virginica - Wikipedia _
_



_​This also may explain the huge black fuzzy wuzzy worms everywhere out in the fields out back. AT first it looked like they were climbing up on grass, but when I got there to look at the little midnight black fuzzballs, the "grass" was more like a weed than grass, but most of the weeds were not flowering, but they were between rounded buns of grass. And since they were poetry-in-motion climbing up (the one above is perpendicular to up; I'm not sure the white stripe was visible. I want to learn more about this riddle moth, since it just didn't look like a moth from its narrow feelers, it looked like the little guy above. And you can just make out the light border that is not a pristine white on the creature I saw--for what reason, it is not known to me.

From what Wikipedia says,: 
*Morphology[edit]*
The wingspan ranges from 40–50 millimetres (1.6–2.0 in).[1] The wing color varies from black to olive-brown. The body is a metallic blue-green. The head is yellow-orange, with feathery antennae. The caterpillar (about 20–25 mm) has multiple tufts of white and yellow hair.[2] It undergoes metamorphosis in May–August.

*Range[edit]*
It is endemic to eastern North America, from Newfoundland south to Virginia. According to the University of Alberta, there has been a westward expansion in the last 60 years as it has reached the Canadian rockies and is now found in all Canadian provinces.[3]

*Food plants[edit]*
Larvae feed on a variety of host plants including various grasses, irises, and sedges. Adults drink nectar from flowers including goldenrod.[4] 

The goldenrod is a very common plant all summer, with a crescendo in or around August-September-October here.


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## beautress

Going to show more pics of above moth that I found in the grass in broad daylight yesterday--his kind is varied, and I'm not sure if any of these are from Walker County, Texas, where I live. They are brown to black, my fella was sleek black-black. Vaguely remember a dab of red on his head like the ones below, do not recall blue, but he was hiding his long, colorful body with his wings covering it. And it is very rainy around here, he could've gotten his light stripe a bit muddy, or some are just colored that way.


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## beautress

He may have fallen out of a nearby tree we were under, and he may have just pupated, because he looked like he was flailing around, like the equivalent of getting his sea legs ready for use. He was rollicking from side to side on the ground. I know I did not run over him, but the sound of the Kubota may have shaken him to the ground. (pure speculation, but trying to wonder why a moth was out in broad daylight.) I know little of this one than what I just posted, but I'm pretty sure its the same moth. Just wonder why I got it confused with one from the United Kingdom/nearby vicinity. France has wild pignuts, too. I have something that is similar to it, but the umbel species on my land do not match Queen Anne's lace, which my mother had called something like it when we lived in Channelview, Texas, 75 miles south of here from 5th to 7th grades.


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## badger2

Yes, your first description of flying low to the grass brought back the vision though the name was still elusive, Ctenucha there were tons of them in Florida in the 1960s and they were day fliers. They are mostly grass feeders.

Ctenucha virginica hostplants

Agrostis canina, A. gigantea

Bromus inermis

Calamagrostis canadensis

Lolium perenne

Panicum capillare

Phleum pratense Poa pratensis

Iris sp.


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## badger2

The range of Ctenucha virginica does not coincide with the gulf states.

Ctenucha virginica Moth Photographer's Group
mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=8262


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## beautress

Wow, I looked all day for host plants and didn't find any. Thank you, badger2.


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## badger2

Apparently no Ctenucha occurs in Florida so those sightings are not verified. You can scroll down to see all representative Ctenucha in the U.S. and click on the number:

mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species_list.php?plate=22

If you can't retrieve the page, search the moth photographer's homepage under index for Arctiini. You either can verify a hostplant Conopodium growing nearby or capture a specimen for positive identification.


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## beautress

Agrostis canina,




​There is a map for the growth areas of Agrostis canina that are native. It shows the whole state of Tennessee. They have a new graphics system at USGS, and I cannot transfer it to here, but I can deliver the page to which all of us may access: Plants Profile for Agrostis canina (velvet bentgrass)
.... This was what they provided as a "save" and "share" I suppose:
USDA-NRCS-NGCE

+

lol!

 A. gigantean​


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## beautress

badger2 said:


> The range of Ctenucha virginica does not coincide with the gulf states.
> 
> Ctenucha virginica Moth Photographer's Group
> mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=8262


Oh. I was reading about one moth in Canada which went as far west as the Rockies. Walker County is south, it's true, but it is at least 700 miles east of the Rockies, so I thought perhaps it also moved west from Virginia. We're not subtropic 100 miles north of Galveston here, we freeze each winter, but lately only 3 or 4 days of freezing, before, it was sloppy cold from January 8 to the end of March sometimes. This was our one-day winter year, due to rain that was not slushy. We had a very odd winter. Last year 5 tornadoes ripped through my land, topping two tall pines, decimating a tree next to the house, it swirled around the house for 5 minutes, then hopped up leaving my roof intact. The neighbor lost his roof. He replaced, but moved last week, putting his 10 acre place up for sale. That wasn't much of a happy memory for his wife and daughters, I'm sure, not to mention 3 beautiful horses they own. I'm surprised to see all those caterpillars in the hayfield in the far outback here. I think they will turn into those black moths, but i'm not sure. They were 3" long, every one of them. I will know in a couple of weeks. I have a caterpillar book around here somewhere, but have been too busy sewing tops of baby quilts to think.


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## beautress

Bromus inermis​





Map where Bromus inermis grows, 2015:






Well it grows two counties north of here and 3 counties east.
Motivated birds could have carried a few seeds this way. My
land is full of wild grasses that like the soil, too many different kinds to count.​​


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## beautress

It will take some time to find pics and maps for these, but I'm trying.

Calamagrostis canadensis, common name: bluejoint
Map (USDA) Plants Profile for Calamagrostis canadensis (bluejoint)
Calamagrostis canadensis shows all but the southern states growing this grass. I'm not sure farmers around here pay all that much attention to the grasses that grow here, they're usually too tired after baling from sunup to sundown to give heed to scientific names and identifications, etc. lol.
But while I refuse to transfer another map, here's a picture or picture of bluejoint grass: 



It posted from the same area the other map didn't post from! 
​

Lolium perenne

Panicum capillare

Phleum pratense Poa pratensis

Iris sp.


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## beautress

Lolium perenne




Yes, I've seen this one around here, too, just like the others that are not supposed to be here.

Panicum capillare




Looks familiar, but I'm not sure I saw it here.
Lived in the Beaver State for 5 years on land
and Wyoming, 35 years, owned 40 acres there
I have seen this grass, my fields have lots of 
grass types, just can't recall when and where.
We visited every zoo in the world & all the 
butterfly and bird arboretums, including
the fantastic 4-story butterfly waterfall near the 
Planetarium in Houston, where plants are specially
grown for butterflies, and it is the most wonderful place.


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## beautress

Poa pratensis aka Kentucky bluegrass. The entire north American map including Alaska, Canada and the 48 states are all colored in areas, but the website was not cooperating earlier today with sharing. It's USDA dot gov, too.


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## Likkmee

Oye beauty.
 Go buy 3 of these
_Hamelia patens_


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## beautress

Iris sp.






Astro Blue Iris,
Salem, Oregon nursery
I'm in love with this one. *sigh*


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## beautress

Likkmee said:


> Oye beauty.
> Go buy 3 of these
> _Hamelia patens_


Thanks, It's real pretty. 
​


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## badger2

Hamelia patens butterfly video:

Thanks for the grasses photos. They are less well-known as lepidoptera host plants.


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## beautress

badger2 said:


> Hamelia patens butterfly video:
> 
> Thanks for the grasses photos. They are less well-known as lepidoptera host plants.


Glad you liked them. I've noticed the agricultural schools around here are VERY interested in plants that affect cattle. A lot of farmers here do cattle as a brings-home-the-bread effort and raise just enough to pay the bills. The gardens are their free food. Lots of them can't afford the meat their cattle sell for in stores, so there's a lot of chicken and dumplings aroma around the farmhouses nearby. I don't care what I read about how good farmers have it with government grants. That isn't true for those who inherited land that was split between several children after the family's last surviving spouse's funeral. The splits of a square mile might be 200 acres, then the kids after that get 67 acres apiece, which keeps them in as much poverty as generations ago were. It gives meaning to Slim Pickens' stage name.

Wow, that video of the Hamelia patens was teeming with life. I thought I saw a hummingbird, but the second sighting it looked more like a butterfly trying to look like a hummingbird. I am particularly fond of the yellow butterflies--aka Giant Sulphurs. Funny name for a butterfly 4" across. But the little sulphurs can be barely visible at under 1" wingspan. Thanks!


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## beautress

Likkmee said:


> Oye beauty.
> Go buy 3 of these
> _Hamelia patens_


A special thanks for posting the Hamelia patens, Likkmee. After seeing yours' and badger2's posts, I'm tempted to go to the nursery and find that pretty - nectar plant. Grandma Shurtleff had one that was like that except a pioneer honeysuckle bush in her yard, and boy did the bees buzz around it, mainly. I wasn't really crazy about Lepidoptera until I moved back to Texas in 2009. I almost flipped out when I saw how they adored this property I live on, and their colors and kinds were all over the map. I started buying butterfly books, refound the Cockrell Butterfly Center after visiting it no telling how many years ago when I returned to Houston to visit family one year. It was in a makeshift large greenhouse covered with plastic stuff back then, in or around its first year or two, and when I got back here in 2009, Holy cow, it was a 4-story waterfall building glassed in next to the planetarium that was built the year before I left for College really near downtown Houston near the Zoological gardens, where the first buttefly habitat was on my visit.

Cockrell Butterfly Center, Houston Museum of Natural Sciences & Planetarium Bldgs. 







































​


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## beautress

They've got too many species flying around any given day at the Cockrell Butterfly center! The last week of school, it's jam-packed with schoolkids, too.











































We were members there for the first 6 years we lived here till my husband and best friend passed away. *sigh*
After that, I just holed up in my house, mowed grass 3 days a week and made quilts nonstop for 2 years.
Losing a partner takes time to get adjusted to being alone all the time. Seeing butterflies were happy times during his several years of worsening dementia.
Bless the precious little beasts and the children.




​


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## Likkmee

It's en enjoyable way to stay more sane in this world. Another bush tree you might take a shot at is tabebuia carib. They might do OK where you live. The bark is like a sponge. Orchids/bromeliads stick like glue.
If you whack it hard every winter, like you would most any fruit tree, they stay easily controllable.
This girls dad and I started this company when she was in diapers.
Give her a shout. Tell her Murdock referred you.she can recommend neat stuff that works north of central FL and a bit north.It should be " try-able" for you.
Call Jess.
 Ricks an old fart like me and growing oranges and Bamboo up near lake Okeechobee.Jess runs the show now.

Freund Flowering Trees Inc.


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## beautress

Wonderful website, Likkmee. Thanks. But I've retired from physical efforts due to arthritis moving in my old bones. I can sit and sew, sit and mow, and chase down facts on the computer as needed. And I tried working out, but wasted money on a year to workout when I can just barely get up and down the stairs, much less take my swollen legs and knees to the gymn to walk on a walker that doesn't go slow enough. lol. I haven't been able to push a shovel with bad ankles for about 5 years now. And 23 years of running my own quilt store rendered my green thumb rather brown. More lol. I love seeing what other people do, however. But bugs are so fierce here my organic methods take more energy that no longer wells up in my sore old body. Thanks, Likeme. You're good peoples.


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## beautress

Geoverdin: (color name)
Hemistola Chrisoprasaria 

*

*

(small Emerald moth, Hemistola chrisoprasaria, UK)
​*What causes the opaque green colour in Lepidoptera?*
 Ask Question 
4
Link here to what I mean by 'opaque' colouration on the insect, the colour intensity remains constant despite changes in light intensity and angle (not shown by the picture but the moth exhibits this in the field). This is different to 'metallic' colouration on other moths like the Forester moth (image here), where the colour intensity changes with light angle and intensity.

Through reading R.F. Chapman's book ('The Insects: Structure and Function'), I know that metallic colours are caused by interference patterns produced by the micro structure of the scales, the book says this is how most higher frequency colours are produced, including green in this category. Obviously I've looked for pigments that could give this colour but I haven't found anything that is produced in insects.

*So my question is: Is there a pigment that gives this colour in the insect and if so, what is it?*

What causes the opaque green colour in Lepidoptera?​In an answer, this was written below:

3
According to this paper, green pigments are found in lepidoptera. The study focused on Geometridae, and found that the primary pigment in emerald moths, such as _Hemistola chrysoprasaria_ is also found as secondary pigment in Pseudoips prasinana. The authors dubbed the substance 'Geoverdin' and suggest it may be a derivative of chlorophyll consumed during the larval stage. I cannot find any further studies mentioning 'geoverdin' or its chemical identity.





*Hemistola chrysoprasaria*
 the *small emerald* is a[FONT="Roboto",sans-serif] [/FONT]moth of the family Geometridae.
 The species can be found in all[FONT="Roboto",sans-serif] [/FONT]Europe, including the Iberian Peninsula
 and Russia, East to the Ural Mountains, North Africa, Asia Minor, Transcaucasia and the mountains of Eastern Asia (Russian Far East, Siberia (Amur Ussuri) and China Tian Shan (as form _lissas)_​
*Description[edit]*
The wingspan is 28–32 mm. Both forewings and hindwings are light-green coloured, but fade but with increasing life span to yellow-green to yellow-white.There is an outer and a fainter inner, slightly curved and continuous, white cross line on the front wings. The inner (antemedian) is strongly curved and usually with two small, slight teeth directed distad, the outer (postmedian) is nearly parallel with distal margin, not dentate.The outer line continues on the hindwing.There is no discal stain. The antennae of the males are slightly combed, those of females short ciliate. In Amur and Ussuri the specimens are often large and with the lines rather widely separated._lissas_ diifers in the shape of the hindwing, which is rounded instead of elbowed[1]

*Biology[edit]*
The moths fly in one generation from June to August. [1].

The larva feed on _Clematis vitalba_.

Habitats include edges of woods, hedges areas as well as gardens and parks. It prefers warm slopes.

*Subspecies[edit]*

_H. c. chrysoprasaria_ Central Europe, South Europe, South Russia, South Urals - SouthEast Siberia, Turkey, Caucasus, Georgia,
_H. c. lissas_ Prout, 1912 Tianshan
_H. c. intermedia_ Djakonov, 1926 mountains (South Siberia)
_H. c. occidentalis_ Wehrli, 1929 South Spain, South Portugal, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia
*Notes[edit]*

*^* _The flight season refers to the British Isles. This may vary in other parts of the range._
*References[edit]*

*^* Prout , L.B. 1912–16. Geometridae. In A. Seitz (ed.) The Macrolepidoptera of the World. The Palaearctic Geometridae, 4. 479 pp. Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart.





"Phototroph" ~ User Phototroph​







The *Green Silver-lines* _(Pseudoips prasinana)_ is a moth of the family Nolidae, common in wooded regions, and having a wingspan of 30-35mm. It is found in the Palearctic ecozone (North and Central Europe, Russia, Siberia Korea, Japan). 
The wingspan is 30–35 mm. The moth flies from June to July depending on the location.

In August the larvae feed on Oak, Birch and several other deciduous trees.[1]


Pseudoips prasinana - Wikipedia​​Pseudoips prasinana​ 
.​​


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## beautress

​


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## beautress

From Wikipedia's files:


































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## beautress

​


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## beautress

My fave ~ Parthenos sylvia, aka Blue Skipper


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## beautress

Hypochrysops delicia, male






female




​


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## beautress

Papillo Ulysses Butterfly




​


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## beautress

Butterflies of Madagascar
​


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## beautress

A little eye candy from the great state of California...
_



_​
Butterflies and moths make up the Lepidoptera. The name means "scale wing," and lepidopteran wings are covered with microscopic scales, which are iridescent and brightly colored in the case of this California butterfly,_ Lycaena helloides_
credits:  Introduction to the Lepidoptera
_
_


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## beautress

Colias croseus





_Colias croceus_, clouded yellow, is a small butterfly of the family Pieridae, that is, the yellows and whites.​These little gems are so cute, and look at how the coats are apainted. 

Discussion from wikipedia: 
*Life cycle and larval host plants[edit]*
Adults fly from March to October.[9] In southern Europe and North Africa they breed continuously throughout the year. Eggs are laid singly on food plant leaves. Usually an extraordinary number of eggs – up to 600 – are laid from a single female.[4]

The caterpillars grow fast in warm weather, sometimes pupating within a month. Caterpillars have 4 moults in total.[4] The pupa remains attached to a foodplant stem by a silk girdle. Pupation lasts for two or three weeks and in good years there can be as many as three generations per year,[4] with adults still on the wing at the beginning of November.

Larvae feed on a variety of leguminous plants, namely Faboideae (_Trifolium pratense_, _Medicago sativa_, _Medicago lappacea_, _Medicago hispida_, _Medicago polymorpha_, _Medicago sulcata_, _Vicia_, _Lotus_, _Onobrychis_, _Astragalus_, _Colutea arborescens_, _Hippocrepis_, and _Anthyllis_ species).[2] In the UK wild and cultivated clovers (_Trifolium_) and alfalfa (_Medicago sativa_) are favourites; less frequently, common bird's-foot trefoil _Lotus corniculatus_ is eaten.

Adults feed primarily on nectar of thistles (_Cirsium_ spp. and _Carduus_ spp.), knapweeds (_Centaurea_ spp.), dandelion (_Taraxacum_), fleabane (_Pulicaria dysenterica_), marjoram (_Origanum vulgare_), ragwort (_Senecio jacobaea_), and vetches (_Vicia_ spp.).[4]


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## beautress

Butterflies in song..

​


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## beautress

Regal Moth aka _Citheronia regalis_
Wingspan can reach up to six inches.



Hickory Horned Devil Caterpillar





They're huge.
Good informational page here: Regal Moth

This page too, is helpful: Regal Moth

I cannot believe how beautiful these animals are. I just looked them up on Bing search engine, and Regal Moths and their Hickory Horned Devil Caterpillars are beautiful and one of the largest moths, but in particular, they are the heaviest moths in North America.​


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## beautress

Doesn't seem to be the yellow-bodied Elephant Hawk, 
_Deilephila elpenor, but it sure looks close.--this one could be from the UK._






Rosy Maple Moth








Tussore Silk moth, _Antheraea mylitta






_
Deuschland maybe. vv
_



_​
​


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## beautress

India, _Antheraea mylitta_



 vv Antherea mylitta vv





Antheria mylitta









​


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## Likkmee




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## beautress

Likkmee said:


>


That's a fine specimen of Blue morphy, Likkmee.


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## Likkmee

The morphos like to suck on these weeds. Oncidium Kramerianum. they named it something different now...Fuckem. I planted the seed in 1997. Its O. Kramerianum


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## Likkmee

beautress said:


> Likkmee said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's a fine specimen of Blue morphy, Likkmee.
Click to expand...

Glad ya liked it. They land on the deck by one of my cabins fairly often when the heat comes in M.J.J.A. Seldom see them now


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## beautress

Likkmee said:


> The morphos like to suck on these weeds. Oncidium Kramerianum. they named it something different now...Fuckem. I planted the seed in 1997. Its O. Kramerianum
> 
> View attachment 298402


Weeds? Looks like an exoticly beautiful orchid-like tropical flower to me.


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## beautress

Yesterday, when I was mowing the driveway between two fields out front, I saw this angelic butterfly, and was it ever actively flitting about! It was so fine it reminded me of lace.

And today, when I was planting a flower garden near the doggie run, I saw a pitch black tiny butterfly (about 1.65 inches) pause around newly planted flowers as if he approved. It was smooth like a 65 jaguar. Very nice.

I'm not sure the white was a sulphur, but it had no other color but white on it. Below is a similar butterfly, except the white one I saw had no other color but pure and flawless white all over it.


​


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## Shawnee_b

freedombecki said:


> Momanohedhunter said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> freedombecki said:
> 
> 
> 
> Butterflies and moths are like the beautiful flowers of the Animal Kingdom. This thread is for sharing photos, facts, and inspirational sightings of any member of the Lepidoptera family.
> 
> I'll start with a specie in my favorite color: _Lysandra bellargus_. (Adonis Blue)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Credits: Kent, UK dot gov​
> In the book, _A World of Butterflies_, text by Brian Cassie, 2004, Chanticleer Press, p. 60. it says: "The Adonis Blue is one of many species of blues that is closely attended by ants during its larval stage. The ants feed on sweet secretions from the larvae's honeydew glands and they provide the immature insects with a measure of protection from predators. Adonis Blue caterpillars, which feed openly during the day, are almost always found in the company of ants. At times the ants even protect them at night by covering them over with a layer of soil."
> 
> I have the book in my private library at home. It's a small hardcover that has full-page sized butterfly photographs by photographer Kjell Sandved.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not a butterfly but awesome nonetheless.
> 
> Actias luna
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> The luna moth is though, Lepidoptera, and aren't they fabulous? My first sighting was at the age of 14 in the town of Bruni, TX, east of Laredo. I also saw one in 1970 at Casper, Wyoming. Those beautiful creatures have a real range.
Click to expand...


Had one in my house once. Felt like a bird in my hands! It went back out and flew off.


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## Shawnee_b

Butterflys land on me often. Why? Tickles. But awesome.


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## justinacolmena

beautress said:


> Yesterday, when I was mowing the driveway between two fields out front, I saw this angelic butterfly,



What kind of butterflies are these?


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