Latest Butterfly Stories
A Japanese researcher says that one kind of female butterfly mates only once in its life, and then closes its wings to avoid "harassment" when pursued by persistent and unwanted males. Jun-Ya Ide, an associate professor at Kurume Institute of Technology in Fukuoka, western Japan said observations of the Small Copper Butterfly, a colorful orange and black butterfly, showed that some females closed their wings when males flew by, but only males of their own species. "When we...
A team of scientists has discovered that descendants of "exploratory" butterflies that colonized new habitats differ genetically from their more cautious cousins. The team, led by James Marden, a professor of biology at Penn State University, and Christopher Wheat, a post-doctoral scholar working at both Penn State and the University of Helsinki, has revealed some of the genetic bases for faster egg maturation, a higher rate of energy metabolism, and superior flight ability --...
The Orb Factory Limited Announces it's Very First iPad App (PRWEB) March 10, 2011 The Orb Factory Limited is a trusted name in children's crafts all around the world - and now they're going digital! Sticky Mosaicsâ„¢ Butterflies iPad app uses the same fun and educational concepts used in many of The Orb Factory's award-winning toys. Sticky Mosaicsâ„¢ Butterflies contains a set of four beautiful templates that your child can decorate with a collection of sparkling jewels. The...
Observing a split in the butterfly family treeLarry Gilbert got hooked on observing butterflies when he was a just a kid."I found a chrysalis of a black swallowtail in a lot near our house. I raised it in a Coke bottle in the window, and have been interested in butterflies ever since," says Gilbert, a professor of integrative biology at the University of Texas.In a rooftop greenhouse on the Austin campus, where he has worked since 1971, and as director of the 82-acre Brackenridge...
Experts report a partial recovery in the annual winter migration of Monarch butterflies to Mexico, following a devastating 75 percent fall last year. The conservation group World Wildlife Fund Mexico says the butterflies from the U.S. and Canada are covering an area of forests that is double that of last year, when their numbers dropped to a historic low. "Fluctuations in insect populations are normal in nature," the study's sponsors said in a statement, quoted by the Associated...
Scientists studied the defences used by caterpillars that transform into large white butterflies, called Pieris brassicae. The insects regurgitate semi-digested cabbage leaves to make them smell and taste unpleasant to predators. The team found, however, that frequent use of this defence reduces the caterpillars' growth rate and the number of eggs they produce. It remains unclear why their defences affect them in this way, but the loss of nutrition from frequent regurgitation is thought to...
A new study published Thursday in the journal Science has found that female butterflies that grow up in colder temperatures become more aggressive as adults, actively chasing males for sex and food. "Behavior in these butterflies is changed by the temperatures experienced during development," said study co-author Kathleen Prudic of Yale University, who studied female Squinting Bush Brown Butterflies (Bicyclus anynana). Researchers were curious as to why some females had ornate wing markings...
SWINDON, England, Dec. 2, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- National Trust is urging shoppers to forget those unwanted Christmas jumpers, socks or candles and think red squirrels and large blue butterflies this Christmas when searching for the perfect present for that difficult-to-buy-for family member or the friend that has everything. National Trust virtual gifts help to raise much needed cash for a wide range of conservation projects and could help solve the annual what-to-buy-for-Christmas...
By Daniel Stolte, University of ArizonaA newly identified relationship between a fly and a weedy mustard-type plant promises to answer many long-standing questions surrounding the evolutionary arms race between plant-eating insects and their host plantsScientists trying to get a grip on the arms race between plant-eating insects and the defenses put up by their hosts just got a boost from new research by a University of Arizona entomologist published in the early view edition of Molecular...
Monarch butterflies appear to use medicinal plants to treat their offspring for disease, research by biologists at Emory University shows. Their findings were published online Oct. 6 in the journal Ecology Letters."We have shown that some species of milkweed, the larva's food plants, can reduce parasite infection in the monarchs," says Jaap de Roode, the evolutionary biologist who led the study. "And we have also found that infected female butterflies prefer to lay their eggs...
Latest Butterfly Reference Libraries
Buddaleja utahensis is more commonly known as the Utah Butterfly Bush or the Panamint Butterfly Bushand is indigenous to the southwestern United States. Growing nearly 20 inches tall, this bristly shrub features expasive branching network with a wide circumference. Its leaves give off a silvery green color resulting from the fine hairs that cover the plant. Each leaf has a bumpy texture with sides that curl under and measures approximately 1inch. Bundles of tubular soft green flowers...
The Rothschild's Birdwing (Ornithoptera rothschildi), is a large butterfly from the birdwing genus endemic to the Arfak Mountains, Western New Guinea. The Rothschild's Birdwing has the most restricted distribution of all birdwings. Its preferred habitat is flowering meadows in an altitude from 6500 to 8800 feet. The females can reach a wingspan up to 6 inches. The forewings are dark brown to blackish brown with creamy white to grayish spots. The hindwings rimmed with black scales and have...
The Cairns Birdwing (Ornithoptera euphorion), is Australia's largest native butterfly species. Cairns Birdwings are found southwards from Mount Webb and Cooktown to Mackay in Queensland. Favored habitat is primary rainforest, although the species will breed readily in a home garden if the correct larval host plants are grown. Males have a predominately black upper wing with emerald green flashes, however the female lacks the green coloring, having a plain black upper wing with white...
Queen Alexandra's Birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae), is the largest butterfly in the world. The species was named by Lord Walter Rothschild in 1907, in honor of Queen Alexandra, wife of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. The first European to discover the species was Albert Stewart Meek in 1906, a collector employed by Lord Walter Rothschild to collect natural history specimens from Papua New Guinea. Although the first specimen was taken with the aid of a small shotgun, Meek soon...
The Anise Swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon) is a common swallowtail butterfly found in western North America. Both the upper and lower sides of its wings are black, but the upper wing has a broad yellow stripe across it, which gives the butterfly an overall yellow appearance. Striking blue spots adorn the rear edge of the rear wing, and the characteristic tails of the swallowtails. Its wingspan is 7-9 cm and its body is somewhat shorter than the rather similar Western Tiger Swallowtail, with...
