Owl butterfly: photo and lifestyle of the twilight moth

Keeping at home

The owl butterfly is an excellent option for keeping at home.
She is not shy, quickly gets used to the presence of a person, and sits on your hand. There are no problems with feeding the pet. In captivity, it is enough to place cut oranges, overripe bananas, peaches and plums in front of the insects. The butterfly itself unwinds its spiral proboscis and begins to feed. Feeding occurs once a day, takes 5-15 minutes. Caligos love sweet drinks, such as homemade wine. For the moth it is necessary to create suitable conditions:

room temperature – 23-28°C;
humidity not lower than 60-70%.

Maintaining humidity is extremely important for the health of lepidoptera. Their limbs and wings quickly dry out and crumble.

It is necessary to maintain humidity by periodically spraying the insect itself, from a distance of about 1 m. A damp cloth is left in the container where the butterfly will be placed. Adults of the genus Caligo live 20-21 days in natural conditions. With proper care they will live for 2-3 months.

Where does the butterfly live?

Scientists believe that the birthplace of this species of lepidoptera is the jungle near the Amazon River. Today, the distribution area of insects is large. The areas where butterflies live include tropical forests in southern and central America, the forests of Venezuela, and the well-known Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, there have been recorded cases of human discovery of a butterfly of this species in hot Mexico.

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Usually individuals settle in flat areas. Sometimes populations appear in the mountains. This fact indicates the possibility of life of the owl butterfly at a distance of 1.5 kilometers above sea level.

Coloring as camouflage from predators

Camouflage from predators

A huge number of animals use their coloring to blend in with their environment. Thus, animals living in trees may be colored to match the color of the bark or have body patterns that help them get lost in the foliage. Land animals often have a gray-brown coloration, which helps them move undetected on the ground. The body of animals living among the snow is often covered with white fur, which helps them become invisible against a white background. Many animals living in the jungle have spotted colors. This protective coloration is also known as cryptic coloration. Let's now look at the most interesting animals that use cryptic coloration.

The enemy's portrait is always with you

In food chains, butterflies play the role of prey. They have many enemies: birds, lizards, chameleons, bats. To survive surrounded by so many predators, you have to resort to tricks. The Caligo butterfly carries on its wings a completely authentic portrait of an owl, which all small animals are afraid of.

The outer side of the caligo's wings is colored to match the scale-like feathers on the bird's head and neck. Color, size, shape - everything matches. Among these painted feathers are huge, unblinking owl eyes. As soon as a lizard or a red-breasted tanager bird approaches the caligo, the butterfly folds its wings. The predator meets the owl's cold gaze and runs away.

The effect of fright is further enhanced by the impressive size of the butterfly itself. Its wingspan reaches 20 cm, and its body length is 7 cm. This is a very nutritious delicacy for insectivorous animals, and it has to be protected with a threatening pattern.

Internal structure

Nervous system

Butterflies have a perfect nervous system and sensory organs, thanks to which they are perfectly oriented in their surroundings and quickly respond to danger signals. The nervous system, like that of all arthropods, consists of a peripharyngeal ring and a ventral nerve cord. In the head, as a result of the fusion of clusters of nerve cells, the brain is formed. This system controls all movements of the butterfly, except for such involuntary functions as blood circulation, digestion, and breathing. Researchers believe that these functions are controlled by the sympathetic nervous system.

Circulatory system

The circulatory system, like that of all arthropods, is not closed. Blood directly washes the internal organs and tissues while in the body cavity, transferring nutrients to them and carrying harmful waste products to the excretory organs. It does not participate in the transfer of oxygen and carbon dioxide, that is, in respiration. Its movement is ensured by the work of the heart - a longitudinal muscular tube located in the dorsal part above the intestines. The heart, pulsating rhythmically, drives blood to the head end of the body. The backflow of blood is prevented by the heart valves. When the heart expands, blood enters it from the back of the body through its side openings, which are equipped with valves that prevent blood from flowing back. In the body cavity, unlike the heart, blood flows from the front end to the back, and then, entering the heart as a result of its pulsation, it is again directed to the head.

Respiratory system and excretory system

The respiratory system is a dense network of branched internal tubes - tracheas, through which air, entering through the external spiracles, is delivered directly to all internal organs and tissues.

The excretory system is a bundle of thin tubes, the so-called Malpighian vessels, located in the body cavity. They are closed at the tops, and open at the bases into the intestines. Metabolic products are filtered out by the entire surface of the Malpighian vessels, and then inside the vessels they turn into crystals. Then they enter the intestinal cavity and, together with undigested food debris, are excreted from the body. Some harmful substances, especially poisons, accumulate and are isolated in the fat body.

Reproductive system

The female reproductive system consists of two ovaries, in which eggs are formed. The ovaries, passing into tubular oviducts, merge at their bases into a single unpaired oviduct, through which mature eggs are released. In the female reproductive system there is a spermatheca - a reservoir into which male sperm enter. Mature eggs can be fertilized by these sperm. The reproductive organs of the male are two testes that pass into the vas deferens, which unite into an unpaired ejaculatory duct, which serves to remove sperm.

Harm.

Caterpillars of moths are very voracious. They can damage leaves, stems and roots of plants, eat stored food products, and spoil various fibers and other materials. The larvae of many species of moths cause significant damage to agriculture.

The harm of keratophagous moths is well known to everyone. They lay eggs on wool and fur, which their larvae feed on. The fibers of these materials are also used by some species to build pupal cocoons.

Malicious pests are grain moth, or barley moth, Indian flour moth and mill moth, which destroy grain in warehouses. All three species are cosmopolitan, i.e. They are distributed almost all over the world, and to reduce the damage they cause, it is necessary to constantly treat with insecticides.

Caterpillars of many species belong to the so-called group. leaf miners (from the English miner - miner) - they feed on plant tissues deep in the leaf and for this they gnaw through long winding passages and extensive cavities under its epidermis. The larvae of other species make tunnels inside branches, roots and trunks, spending their entire immature life inside the host plant, which provides pests with reliable protection from parasites, predators and humans trying to fight them.

Probably the most noticeable type of damage caused by caterpillars to plants is defoliation, i.e. destruction of foliage. Hungry butterfly larvae can literally strip fields, vegetable gardens and even forests.

Appearance and structure of butterflies

Moths are called moths with different antennae, which is associated with the anatomical structure of the antennae, which look like feathers or threads.

What does a moth look like? Its body, like that of other species of this order of insects, has three sections, the abdomen, the sternum and the head. The latter of butterflies does not differ in size; it is decorated with eyes and large antennae. There are 2 pairs of wings on the insect's chest, and its body is covered with tiny scales and hairs.

The oral apparatus has some features:

the proboscis, with the help of which the insect takes food, is presented in the form of a flat spiral that folds and unfolds and opens directly into the larynx;
when the proboscis is not required, it is twisted and hidden under the scales covering the butterfly's head;
when expanded, the proboscis is ideally suited for absorbing liquids;
adult individuals have jaws (similar ones can be seen in caterpillars and other types of insects), allowing them to chew through the necessary objects.

The structure of the wings may differ among different subspecies:

a butterfly may not have wings at all (this structure is passed on by insects from generation to generation and is an evolutionary manifestation);
have a wide wing surface;
have very narrow wings, almost linear.

The flight that a butterfly can demonstrate depends on the structure of its wings. For example, male mothfish are excellent flyers who dive superbly in the night sky. And their females can be either with or without wings.

On the other hand, there are known species of moths that have wings of a standard size and shape that do not allow the insect to fly (for example, the silkworm). The best developed flying apparatus is in the nocturnal moth - the hawkmoth subspecies, whose narrow wings have a high flapping frequency, allowing them to fly quickly and hover in the air for a while, as hummingbirds do.

Small individuals have rather narrow wings, which keep them in the air only due to the thick scales located on the sides.

The main difference between diurnal and nocturnal butterfly species is the mechanism for attaching the rear and front pairs of wings:

Bridle: in this case, a small process extends from the hind wings, which is inserted into a segment of the front wing. In males it is located on the lower part of the forewing, in females it is at the base of the medial vein; it is a cluster of villi.
Yugum: on the front wing there is a small blade, which is attached at its base. It is she who fastens both wings to each other.

The hawk moth is also active at night

Owl butterfly: a “bird-like” insect

Everyone knows the owl bird. Has anyone heard of a butterfly that was nicknamed an owl? How and why did it get such a name? Now we'll tell you...

The size of this unusual butterfly sometimes reaches 20 cm. The owl butterfly can rather be classified as crepuscular than nocturnal.

The butterfly's activity begins at sunset, but does not last long - only a third of an hour. On the bottom of the wings there is a pattern quite similar to an owl's eyes, and in addition this pattern is also very similar to the image on snake skin.

Owl butterfly (Caligo eurilochus).

To protect itself from multiple enemies, birds, the butterfly uses a very unique and effective method: when threatened, the insect instantly turns over, allowing the birds to see the reverse side of their wings. The birds, in fear, hurry to hide, since the image they saw is the exact image of an owl.

If the inside of the wings is an exact image of an owl's face, then the outside of the butterfly's wings is very cute.

Well, the outer part of the wings has a velvety tint of bluish and beige tones, which very smoothly replace each other.

The owl butterfly is quite impressive. It is saturated with overripe fruits both in the natural environment and in captivity. Very overripe bananas are a special treat for her. Thanks to its simple diet, many people can afford to keep a butterfly at home.

Caterpillars of butterflies of the genus Caligo are very unusual creatures.

The Caligo caterpillar also looks quite unusual: blue stripes look beautiful on a light green body, and the bright yellow head is crowned with horns.

This gives it a resemblance to a fairy-tale dragon from China. This effect is enhanced by the tail forked at the end, which has 2 azure stripes on the sides.

An owl butterfly emerging from a cocoon.

The butterfly's homeland is the largest forest in the world - the Amazon jungle. Under natural conditions, it lives in the tropics of southern and central America. Currently, Caligo can be found in the forests of Venezuela, Ecuador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Beautiful butterflies were also spotted far to the north - in Mexico.

The huge gray Caligo has a fairly large body and a very large wingspan, sometimes reaching about 20 centimeters. The entire body is covered with large hairs, the wings are velvety on top. If you look at an insect up close, you can forget that it is a butterfly: you get the full feeling that this is a small animal in front of you.

At first glance, it seems that several owls are looking at you.

The butterfly can quickly get used to its owner, instantly unfolding its proboscis in anticipation of feeding. The insect feeds with appetite, very enthusiastically. The butterfly also loves to enjoy sweet wine, especially homemade wine. With proper care, Caligo will be able to live under room conditions for almost 2 months.

The owl butterfly is a master of ultrasonic radiation.

Being a nocturnal moth, the owl butterfly has ultrasonic hearing and voice. It is capable of emitting ultrasonic waves, and also a slight crackling sound that can be detected by humans. Because bats actively hunt moths, finding them in the darkness of tropical thickets using their own sound scanners, the moths need to defend themselves. If they hear bats searching for them using ultrasound, they send out the same kind of audio warning, but with a rather highly distorted frequency. As a result, mice create a distorted spatial image, form an incorrect character of the place and, as a result, miss. Taking advantage of the favorable situation, the butterflies hide.

The owl butterfly is an insect that still hides many mysteries about itself. To solve them, scientists will have to make every effort.

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How nature draws on butterflies

Any new pattern on an insect's wing is the result of a mutation. Probably, once upon a time, an unusual specimen with small spots appeared among the brownish-gray caligos. Even though not all enemies were afraid of him, but only the smallest ones, he was more fortunate than his relatives: he left offspring.

In a couple of children, the spots not only appeared, but became larger. They scared off many more predators and also lived to see the main moment of life - reproduction. And so in every generation: whoever is more like an owl populates the world of the Amazon forests with his children.

Caligo is not unique in its coloring. The African speckled peacock-eye shows the pattern of an animal's face to predators. The ends of the wings of the Atlas peacock-eye resemble the backward-facing heads of snakes. Saturnius Io with monkey eyes on a bright yellow background is very impressive.

What does a butterfly look like?

Partly in explaining the origin of the name we touched on this issue.
However, it is not fully disclosed, so let us turn to expanding the range of available information. It is known that this representative of Lepidoptera is large in size. The gray caligo, as experts call the owl butterfly, has a body of impressive size. Its length can reach 20 centimeters. The body of the insect has abundant hair, and the surface of the wings resembles velvet to the touch. When examining and studying the butterfly in detail, you get the feeling that it is not an insect at all, but resembles a small animal. The wingspan of the owl butterfly varies from 120 millimeters to 160 millimeters. Some individuals had wings so large that their span reached 200 millimeters. The terrifying color of the back of the wings, reminiscent of the eyes of an owl, is not the only remarkable thing about the butterfly. By the way, many also compare it with patterns decorating snake skin. The outer part of the wings is recognized by many as very pretty. Its color is a play of various shades of blue and beige colors, as if flowing into one another.

The appearance of a caterpillar has distinctive features. Her body is painted in a light green color, close to the shades of a lettuce leaf, and is also decorated with bluish stripes. The head of the larva is bright yellow and crowned with horns. This appearance of the caterpillar has led many to compare it with mythological Chinese dragons. This is especially encouraged by the bifurcation of the end of the tail and its bordering with azure stripes.

Larva (caterpillar)

What does it look like?

It has an elongated thick body, most often naked, less often covered with sparse hairs. They can be evenly scattered throughout the body or grouped in small groups.

The main color is green, gray, yellow or chestnut, with purple and pink tints. The pattern is characteristic of the cutworm family; it includes a longitudinal light stripe running along the back and thinner, darker stripes on the sides.

Photo of cutworm larvae.

The larvae have thoracic legs (3 pairs), abdominal legs (3-5 pairs) and false legs (4 pairs). The youngest and oldest caterpillars often do not have abdominal legs, or they are underdeveloped.

Stages of development.

During the growth process, cutworm caterpillars molt from 3 to 5 times, depending on the species and living conditions. They go through 5 or 6 generations. The larvae of the first two instars are considered young, and the last two instars are considered adults. In many species of cutworms, it is the adult larvae that hide for the winter, which, after emerging, severely damage young shoots, seeds and buds of food plants.

Scoop caterpillars photo.

The stages of development do not differ much from each other in appearance; only the proportions of the body and head change. The initially large head shrinks and the body elongates. The coloring remains largely unchanged.

Classification and types of butterflies

The large order of Lepidoptera includes more than 158 thousand representatives. There are several classification systems for butterflies, quite complex and confusing, with constant changes occurring in them.

The most successful scheme is considered to be one that divides this detachment into four suborders:

Primary toothed moths
. These are small butterflies, the wingspan of which ranges from 4 to 15 mm, with a gnawing type mouthparts and antennae that reach a length of up to 75% of the size of the front wings. The family consists of 160 species of butterflies.

Typical representatives are:

golden smallwing;
marigold smallwing.

Proboscis butterflies
. The wingspan of these insects, covered with dark small scales with cream or black spots, does not exceed 25 mm. Until 1967, they were classified as primary toothed moths, with which this family has much in common.

The most famous butterflies from this suborder:

flour moth – Asopia farinalis L.
spruce cone moth – Dioryctrica abieteila.

Heterobathmiidae, represented by one family Heterobathmiidae.

Proboscis butterflies, making up the largest suborder, consisting of several dozen families, which include more than 150 thousand species of butterflies. The appearance and size of representatives of this suborder are very diverse.

Below are several families demonstrating the diversity of proboscis butterflies.

Swallowtail family
, represented by medium and large butterflies with a wingspan from 50 to 280 mm. The pattern on the wings of butterflies consists of black, red or blue spots of various shapes, clearly visible on a white or yellow background. The most famous of them are the swallowtail butterfly, the swallowtail "Glory of Bhutan", Queen Alexandra's birdwing and others.
Family Nymphalidae
, a characteristic feature of which is the absence of thickened veins on wide, angular wings with variegated colors and a variety of patterns. The wingspan of butterflies varies from 50 to 130 mm. Representatives of this family are: admiral butterfly, day peacock butterfly, urticaria butterfly, mourning butterfly, etc.
The Hawkmoth family
, represented by moths with narrow wings, the span of which does not exceed 13 cm and is distinguished by a characteristic pattern. The abdomen of these insects is thickened and fusiform. The most famous butterflies of this family are: the death's head hawk moth, the oleander hawk moth, and the poplar hawk moth.
Family Noctuid moths
, which includes more than 35,000 species of moths. The span of the furry wings, gray with a metallic tint, averages 35 mm. However, in South America, there is a species of butterfly called tisania agrippina with a wingspan of 31 cm or the atlas peacock eye, the size of which resembles a medium-sized bird.

Welcome to the Butterfly House

Butterfly Owl: Sensation on the wings of a butterfly!

An incredible discovery was recently made public by American scientists. The exact picture of the origin of eyeballs on the wings of modern butterflies has become known to the whole world!

Before butterflies appeared on Earth, there were Calligrammatid lacewings - winged insects that borrowed the form of butterflies at least 40 million years ago before the birth of modern insects.

What is surprising is that the butterfly-like species Oregramma illecebrosa, described in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, is not the ancestor of butterflies: the other members of its lineage are completely different species of insects from butterflies. This striking similarity is an example of convergent evolution—the same shape, structure, and perhaps even behavior in completely different types of insects.

The findings come courtesy of some particularly well-preserved fossils found in northeast China, allowing scientists to study ancient insects more precisely than ever before. “Science has known about the first ancient insects for about 100 years, but in the 1960s, some specimens were found in China that led people to talk about the similarity of these insects to butterflies,” Smithsonian paleontologist Conrad Labandeira, lead author of the study, told the Washington Post. . But we knew that the specimens found had nothing to do with butterflies.”

Researchers led by Labandeira, with their discovery, dispelled the myth that science cannot explain the reasons for the appearance of eyeballs on the wings of butterflies. One day, Labandeira and his team—an international community of scientists—latched on to the Chinese fossils, and things got a lot more interesting. The resemblance to butterflies of this ancient insect species was so strong that even experts from a distance were mistaken: Labandeira recalls how his colleague in the entomology department was convinced, from 20 feet away, that a fossil lying on the table was a butterfly. “When I told him to come closer and he looked again, his jaw dropped,” Labandeira marveled. One of the most striking similarities is superficial: spots found on the wings of the Oregramma illecebrosa fossil are virtually identical to structures found on modern owl butterflies today. These so-called eyespots imitate the eyes of large birds—flying dinosaurs—to ward off predators that might eat the butterfly.

Labandeira thought that the last common ancestor of Oregramma illecebrosa with modern butterflies lived more than 320 million years ago. The fact that two completely unrelated insects evolved this wing mimicry millions of years apart is a perfect example of convergent evolution: Oregramma illecebrosa might not have a similar distribution range to owl butterflies, but many big-eyed creatures might. even dinosaurs, the famous predators of the Jurassic period, could serve as inspiration for the camouflage. The insect Oregramma illecebrosa would have a better chance of surviving a dinosaur meal if it imitated the larger animal, and as insects with artificial eyes continued to reproduce more successfully than those without markings, the structures on their wings became more complex. Then, millions of years later, insects called butterflies unrelated to Oregramma illecebrosa repeated the same defense mechanism. What protected well in the Jurassic still works well today. There are also indications that the ancient insects found in China shared behavioral traits with modern butterflies: they modified their legs with hairs to facilitate pollen collection, much like modern butterflies do. And they also had the long proboscis that modern butterflies use to suck nectar from flowers—even though flowering plants didn't exist at the time. Instead, Oregramma illecebrosa and its ilk collected dry and liquid pollen from primitive, non-flowering plants. This is another case of convergent evolution that Labandeira explained. Other researchers have found that numerous groups of insects had these elongated mouthparts before the first flowers appeared on Earth, so they must have evolved specifically to suck liquid from plants that have long since gone extinct. Then, when flowers began to dominate the planet, the entire system was updated. "It's kind of like a baseball team," Labandeira said. “The positions are the same, but the players change. It was a different world from ours in which these insects developed. So they perform very similar roles to butterflies, but they are completely different."

Protection of the swallowtail butterfly

Photo: Swallowtail butterfly from the Red Book

The species was listed in the Red Book of Ukraine in 1994, in 1998 in the Red Book of the Moscow Region, the Red Book of the Vologda Region, the Red Book of Lithuania, the Red Book of Karelia and was assigned to category 3. In the Red Book of Germany it is assigned category 4. In the Red Book of Latvia and the Red Book of the Smolensk Region, the species is marked with category 2 of extinction risk.

Naturalists around the globe are concerned about the number of moths and are taking measures to eliminate the threat of extinction of the species. In Tatarstan, a project for the development of a residential building called “Makhaon Valley” was developed. It was designed in such a way as to preserve the landscape with a large number of lakes as much as possible.

To draw attention to the problem, in Latvia in 2013, an image of an insect was placed on the coat of arms of the Skrudalien region. In 2006, the swallowtail became a symbol of Germany

In the above countries, protective measures have been taken to capture adult butterflies and destroy caterpillars. Spreading insecticides and grazing livestock are prohibited in the habitats.

Caring inhabitants of the planet are breeding moths at home. To do this, butterflies must be provided with an aquarium measuring 10 liters for 5 individuals, a container with water, dill and a branch where the caterpillars will pupate while awaiting metamorphosis. To feed the butterflies you will need water and honey.

These fragile creatures delight us with their beauty, ease of flight, and amazing transformation. Some people try to catch a moth for fun, not realizing that its life is too short. Their splendor is best enjoyed in the wild, without shortening the butterflies' already short lifespan.

How does a butterfly live?

The insect's active period during the day begins before sunset. However, it does not have an impressive duration: the butterfly is in a state of highest activity for only 20 minutes. At this time, she searches for food. If a discovery occurs, then, having descended to the ground, it opens its spirally coiled proboscis and drinks nectar.

The rest of the time, owl butterflies are in the trees. Having folded their wings like a house, they sit motionless. The camouflage reverse side is clearly visible to potential enemies at this moment.

Since the butterfly’s main means of protecting itself from enemies is camouflage, when attacked by birds of prey or reptiles, it instantly makes a masterly 180-degree flip in order to show them the “secret weapon” hiding on the back of its open wings. The effect of using this effective method is very good, since both birds and snakes make every possible effort to hide from what they see - the image of the appearance of an owl.

The insect feeds mainly on overripe fruits, both in its natural habitat and when kept at home. Favorite among these are blackened bananas. Such unpretentiousness of the owl butterfly becomes one of the reasons that attracts people to keep it as a pet.

Many people classify the insect as a moth. In turn, scientists emphasize that the owl butterfly is crepuscular. This definition indicates that the animal has ultrasonic hearing and even a voice. The insect can not only detect a light crackling sound, which is difficult for a person to perceive, but also reproduce it! Since one of the natural enemies of the owl butterfly is bats that hunt using echolocation, the fragile creatures need to defend themselves. Her unique abilities help her in this. Butterflies detect the approach of an animal and send ultrasounds in its direction with a deliberately changed frequency. This distorts the image of the space scanned by the bat, and it loses the ability to accurately catch prey. Using the enemy's mistakes, the butterflies hide from him.

Mnemosyne butterfly - description, habitat, species

Ursa Hera

The bear, named after the wife of Zeus, the goddess Hera, is easily recognized by three oblique light lines on the front wings and black spots on the red hind wings. The Hera bear (Euplagia quadripunctaria) lives in Europe (except for the northern regions) and Central Asia. It is found on forest edges and clearings, among shrubs in the zone of deciduous forests. In terms of flight time, Hera is a late-summer species - these butterflies fly in July and August. Unlike most other bears, Hera flies during the day. The caterpillars of this butterfly hibernate.

Human economic activity is leading to the destruction of hera habitats, and today it has become extremely rare in many places.

Transcaspian gloomy bear

This is one of the largest representatives of the family - its wingspan often exceeds 10 cm! The species surprises not only with its size, but also with its way of life - the Trans-Caspian gloomy bears (Axiopoena maura) prefer to live among rocks and in caves! It is also unusual that the caterpillars of this species live very far from caves in mixed-grass steppes.

This amazing butterfly is found in India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Transcaucasia and Turkmenistan.

Lady bear

The lady bear (Callimorpha dominula), unlike the previous species, cannot boast of large sizes (its wingspan is only 4.5-5 cm), but it is very beautiful. The front wings are colored in dark shades with light spots, the hind wings are orange or bright red with dark spots.

The lady bear is widespread in Central and Southern Europe, the Caucasus and Transcaucasia. Prefers damp and open places - clearings, grassy slopes, ravines, clearings of broad-leaved forests.

Dipper black and yellow

This is a large bear (Epbestris melfntba), with a wingspan of up to 7 cm, and lives in the tropical forests of Colombia and Brazil, as well as in the equatorial regions of South America. The wings and abdomen of the butterfly are bright, but not variegated, and instead of the usual numerous spots, they are simply painted in two colors - black and golden yellow; after all, the Greek word melfntba means “black-golden-yellow.”

Red-spotted bear

The red-spotted bear (Utetheisa pulchella) is a relatively small species, found in southern Europe, Africa, Central and South Asia. The butterfly got its name from the bright pattern on its wings. This rather rare species is mainly found in meadows.

Purple Dipper

The purple bear (Rhyparia purpurata) lives in Europe and in temperate Asian regions. Settles on dry heather heaths and sandy soils. Its wingspan is 3-4.5 cm. The front wings are yellow, with individual brownish spots, the hind wings are orange-red.

Ursa is fast

The swift bear (Spilarctia luteum) is widespread from North Africa, through Europe to East Asia. Prefers damp mixed and pine forests. White wings with small black dots have a span of 4-5 cm. These bears fly in June and July during the daytime.

How to determine the lifespan of winged beauties

How long do “flying flowers” live? The life cycle consists of all phases of insect development:

egg;
caterpillar;
chrysalis;
adult, imago.

When determining the life span of a butterfly, scientists take into account the duration of each stage. Therefore, the time frame is much longer than several days. It is not surprising: the future butterfly spends most of its existence in some stages.

When determining the duration of the life cycle of the Vanessa species, it is taken into account that the insect spends 4 days in the egg phase, and up to a decade in the caterpillar stage, depending on the amount of accumulated fat for transformation into a moth. In the form of a pupa, the future butterfly will live for about a week, and then - apotheosis, transformation into the ideal of grace and beauty.

However, the adult will remain charmed with light wings for about two weeks, no more. And during this period she must have time to lay eggs. Probably for this reason, nature allowed female butterflies to live several days longer than males.

Life cycle components

The lifespan of a moth depends on many factors. The duration is affected by:

climatic conditions;
species affiliation;
coloring

The lifespan of butterflies largely depends on the climate. Most of the species live in tropical and subtropical conditions: capricious beauties love warmth and light. But geographic latitude directly determines the lifespan of an insect.

How long will the insect live? Inhabitants of northern latitudes can live up to two years. In fairly harsh conditions there is little food, the larva does not have time to accumulate useful substances to move to the next stage. The pupa will not be able to become a butterfly next spring. Thanks to “preservation”, the life of the future winged beauty is extended by a whole year!

Affect the lifespan of butterflies and insect migrations. During the year, beautiful creatures make 2 flights, from late spring to early autumn. During this time, 2 generations of adults will change. The pupae will “open” at the end of summer or early spring.

Northern butterflies are stronger than southern ones!

The species to which the moth belongs also plays a significant role. How long does an insect live? Some species live no more than a few hours. And the period is calculated from the laying of eggs until the transformation into an adult. It is wrong to believe that all butterflies can live for several hours or days: on average, they delight people with their beauty for several weeks. True, there are also long-livers.

These include the inhabitants of northern latitudes. Insects have an amazing feature. They fall into suspended animation. In this state, metabolic processes slow down and energy is not spent on maintaining life. Butterflies are resistant even to the treatment of plants with pesticides at this time!

Long-lived among the “flying flowers”

The record holders among winged beauties are insects of the Monarch species. Adults can live up to a year, setting a real record among lepidoptera.

Cabbage plants flutter through the air for about a month. Some of the lemongrass specimens manage to live for several years, even withstanding temperatures below 20 degrees below zero! And blueberry butterflies enjoy life for several days. They were given the shortest possible sentence.

At home, the winged beauty will live longer than in nature. But how much effort will have to be made for this!

Temperature and wintering time also affect the butterfly's lifespan. Severe cold can destroy delicate creatures, and in the warmth of a human home or during a thaw, a moth released from a state of suspended animation can die from exhaustion.

Victims of beauty?

It is known that during its life the graceful beauty goes through several stages, turning from a larva into a caterpillar; a butterfly is the final phase of development. If the insect has not had time to accumulate nutrients for the next stage, it lives longer. The lifetime increases to several years!

Due to the variety of colors, the wonderful “flying flowers” have no rivals in the world of insects. There are amazing specimens. Among them are a transparent butterfly, recognized as a real miracle of nature, and tropical beauties shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow, among which there are real giants with a wingspan of up to 28 cm.

But it is the coloring that causes the shortening of the lifespan: collectors are willing to pay a lot of money to decorate their collections with the desired specimens.

How does a butterfly reproduce?

Following the long courtship of the male, mating occurs with the conquered individual of the genus Caligo on tree branches. After this, the female lays eggs on large leaves. After a week, the larvae are born. Typically, not all of the eggs laid produce offspring.

At first, the body of the larvae is painted white, with brown stripes running along it. Then molting occurs, after which the caterpillars become green and acquire horns and spines.

Butterfly - description. The structure and appearance of butterflies.

The structure of the butterfly has two main sections: the body, protected by a hard chitinous shell, and the wings.

A butterfly is an insect whose body consists of:

Head, inactively connected to the chest.
The butterfly's head has a round shape with a slightly flattened occipital part. The round or oval convex eyes of the butterfly in the form of hemispheres, occupying most of the lateral surface of the head, have a complex facet structure. Butterflies have color vision and perceive moving objects better than stationary ones. In many species, additional simple parietal eyes are located behind the antennae. The structure of the oral apparatus depends on the species and can be of the sucking or gnawing type.
The breast of a butterfly has a three-segment structure.
The front part is significantly smaller than the middle and back part, where three pairs of legs are located, which have a structure characteristic of insects. On the shins of the butterfly's front legs there are spurs designed to maintain the hygiene of the antennae.
The abdomen of a butterfly
has the shape of an elongated cylinder, consisting of ten ring-shaped segments with spiracles located on them.
The antennae of the butterfly
are located on the border of the parietal and frontal parts of the head. They help butterflies navigate their surroundings by sensing air vibrations and various odors. The length and structure of the antennae depend on the species.
Two pairs of butterfly wings
, covered with flat scales of different shapes, have a membranous structure and are penetrated by transverse and longitudinal veins. The size of the hind wings can be the same as the front wings or significantly smaller than them. The pattern of butterfly wings varies from species to species and captivates with its beauty. In macro photography, the scales on the wings of butterflies are very clearly visible - they can have completely different shapes and colors.

The appearance and color of the butterfly’s wings serve not only for intraspecific sexual recognition, but also act as protective camouflage, allowing it to blend into its surroundings. Therefore, colors can be either monochrome or variegated with a complex pattern. The size of a butterfly, or better said, the wingspan of a butterfly, can range from 2 mm to 31 cm.

Description of the genus Caligo, appearance of the owl butterfly

The owl butterfly (Owlutterflies Caligo) belongs to the genus Caligo, which includes about 20 butterflies that live in the tropics and subtropics of America.

The wingspan of representatives of the genus Caligo reaches 120-160 cm, although there are also specimens in which this figure reaches 200 mm.

All butterflies are predominantly brown and brown in color, for which they received the name “Caligo”, which is translated from Latin as “gloomy”. There are also specimens with beige, orange spots and a purple tint.

The reverse side of the wings of owl butterflies is covered with an intricate pattern of stripes, wavy lines and spots. The owl butterfly has one black circle with a yellow border on the central part of the hind wings, which in appearance resembles the eyes of an owl.

Butterflies have a spindle-shaped body covered with dense hairs. The average size of insects is 16-17 cm, sometimes they grow up to 20 cm.

The eyes are faceted and occupy most of the head. The antennae are filamentous.

On average, butterflies live 3 weeks.

Insects have pronounced sexual dimorphism: females are larger than males and have less bright colors.

Animals with cryptic coloration

Pygmy seahorse

These incredible creatures perhaps have the best protective coloring. Tiny seahorses, just one and a half centimeters long, blend perfectly into their natural habitat, coral reefs, taking advantage of both their size and their amazing colors. Pygmy seahorses were discovered by chance on corals that were caught for study.

Wood Nightjar

This fantastic South American bird is yet another camouflage expert in the animal kingdom. The feather pattern of these birds looks like dried bark and branches, providing them with excellent shelter. Wood nightjars spend most of the day sitting on branches, revealing themselves only when they open their beaks or flap their wings to fly off into the darkness in search of insects.

Gigantic whitefoot

Giant white-legged or smoky frogmouth

Whitelegs are related to nightjars, and they use the same tactics for defense. The color of the plumage of gigantic white-footed animals matches perfectly with the trees on which they sit, which makes it very difficult for predators to find them.

Common nightjar

Related to the forest nightjars and giant white-footed nightjars, common nightjars are usually brown-black in color, which camouflages them well in ground nests.

Owl

Owl camouflage

Owls are nocturnal predators that spend most of the day hiding in hollows. Their plumage blends into the tree and in the daytime it is very difficult to distinguish them against the background of the tree.

Shiny Pointed Head Snake

This graceful miracle of nature spends most of its time in a tree, and there is a good reason for this. This striking green snake blends effortlessly into the foliage, making it virtually invisible until it begins to move slowly.

Mantis

This predatory insect hides in the green grass, patiently waiting for its prey, delivering a fatal blow at the most opportune moment.

Caterpillar

Caterpillars use two types of coloring: protective coloring and warning coloring. Many caterpillars are colored just like the plants they live on, making them difficult for birds and other predators to see.

Crocodile

Saltwater crocodile

In muddy rivers, the habitat of crocodiles, these predators lie motionless, waiting for their prey, which often mistakes crocodiles for lifeless logs. By scanning the surface of the water, crocodiles can keep almost their entire body underwater. This allows them to get quite close to an unsuspecting victim and launch a fatal attack.

African pygmy viper

This gray snake is perfectly suited to its desert habitat. Like all snakes, it is an excellent ambush predator that hides under the sand in anticipation of prey. Only the head rises above the sand, which is quite difficult to notice.

Australian copperhead snake

Most snakes are masters of camouflage. The Australian copperhead, or copperhead, is one of the world's deadliest snakes and has a body covered in a striking pattern of random spots that blend in with the grass, leaves and branches.

Wart

This predatory fish is almost impossible to detect when it lies in ambush, waiting for its prey. In this form, the wart resembles an ordinary stone covered with coral on the ocean floor, right up to the very moment of its attack.

Lion, tiger, leopard, jaguar

African lion

All these wild cats rely on cunning and ambush when hunting, so they need to get as close to the prey as possible. The lion's golden fur hides it in the golden-brown landscape of the African savannas. Lions try to get as close to the prey as possible, thereby compensating for their insufficient speed. Their camouflage is extremely useful for achieving this goal.

Tigers hunt mainly in wooded areas, in areas covered with tall grass. Since tigers usually hunt at dawn or dusk, their otherwise visible stripes help them move unnoticed in long grass.

Leopards and jaguars hunt in densely forested areas. The rosette pattern on their body helps them hide in the ever-shifting shadows cast by the leaves in the sunlight.

LO LoveOpium

They got their name - Lepidoptera - due to the structure of their wings. It turns out that a long time ago the ancestors of today's butterflies did not have any wings and, accordingly, could not fly. Instead of wings, ancient butterflies did not have special growths that protected the respiratory slits.

But evolution decided to launch these strange creatures into the air, so it began to grow these growths, gradually turning them into wings.

Many butterflies have clever coloring - the wing on top is bright and eye-catching, the bottom is plain and dark. It is not difficult to guess that when looking at the butterfly from above, its motley coloring serves as camouflage against the backdrop of motley flowering meadows. Well, when at rest, sitting, the butterfly folds its wings, turning the underside of the wings, which is less noticeable, towards a potential predator.

Another thing is the Caligo butterfly , the so-called owl butterfly. When a particularly hungry bird approaches, it opens its wings and turns towards the approaching predator - in this position, the color of its wings is somewhat reminiscent of an owl’s head, which no sane insectivorous bird would attack.

Butterfly-owl:

Forest Nymph, aka Rice Paper, is sunbathing:

Everyone knows that butterflies do not live long - some only 1-2 days . During this short period, they need to have time to eat nectar, mate, lay eggs, and, of course, flutter in the sun.

This Common Mormon in our Russian-speaking regions for some reason received the name Parusnik Polit , although the literal translation - Mormon Ordinary - is not accidental. Females of this species, found in the Indian wilds, come in three colors, giving the impression that the male can mate with several different species. A witty entomologist, without hesitation, christened these butterflies Mormons, who hold polygamy in high esteem:

Hypolimnas Bolina quarreled with her neighbor:

Despite their apparent beauty, upon closer examination, butterflies turn out to be quite scary and ugly creatures - due to their belonging to the class of insects. The proboscis, antennae and bug-eyed head just beg to be featured on the big screen in a film about aliens. The length of the proboscis is not a reason for pride, but an evolutionarily explained parameter: it depends on the depth of the flower, which is the main one in the menu of this species. I don’t know what the Walker’s hawk moth , but its trunk reaches 25 centimeters!

Many Lepidoptera from tropical regions prefer fruits, especially slightly rotten ones, to flowers. But excessive consumption of citrus alcohol can lead to serious health problems, such as right-sided proboscis nose deformities.

And this comrade, it seems, did not calculate his quota. Or he simply mixed different nectars, which (as has been known since student times) should never be done:

Butterflies' vision is not very good (they see moving bright objects well, they see stationary objects worse), but it is quite unique. Like many insects, butterflies have facet organs of vision, where each eye consists of hundreds or even thousands of small eyes working to process visual images. Not perceiving the color red, flutterers distinguish the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, which is invisible to us.

Another representative of the “I want to be an owl” species peeps from behind a leaf at Rice Paper (see above), taking an ultraviolet bath:

By the way, this same Morpho Peleid is an extremely harmful butterfly . The bright blue color catches the eye immediately. But in order to capture it, I had to run around the greenhouse a lot, chasing the poor butterflies who didn’t understand anything. While their relatives, fluttering about, sat down on leaves and branches and took picturesque poses, these fidgets did not stay in one place for more than a second. Well, that cripple with a broken wing who ran a race with a quail doesn’t count.

Rare shot - Morpho Peleid is not flying anywhere. Back view:

A rare shot - Morpho Peleid is not flying anywhere and is not even going. Top and back view:

Here! Here it is - the Zebra Finch - in other words, an Australian sparrow . I just can’t help but quote two or three lines from Wikipedia, which very subtly characterize this beautiful bird and will be understandable to any average amateur ornithologist. Others can simply skip the next paragraph.

The zebra finch genome contains 18,447 genes, of which 17,475 encode proteins. The activity of 807 genes changes significantly when the bird sings. Scattered across 10 chromosomes are 15 fragments of a virus from the group of hepadnaviruses (Hepadnaviridae), which infected the bird genome between 19 and 40 million years ago.

Even the reader who has no knowledge of birds at all will find in the next photo signs of the presence of hepadnavirus in this female, who is watching with great interest the shapeless and blurry tuft of feathers on thin legs. “And this is my husband?” one can read the silent question in the eyes of the unfortunate finch:

The Butterfly Conservatory is not just a lepidopteran zoo. Local residents here are actively studied and used for scientific experiments. This is where future scientists are trained:

Danaus chrysippus in the English version is called much more interesting - Common Tiger or African Monarch . True, I didn’t find anything tigerish, much less royal, in her behavior. Not only is this butterfly saturated with some kind of tasteless alkaloids, absorbed into the body at the larval stage, and making it absolutely inedible and tasteless. So she also knows how to pretend to be dead. If some unscrupulous predator tries to attack it, the butterfly immediately drops dead and begins to stink, emitting an extremely unpleasant odor that discourages the butterfly eater from any appetite. And you can’t tell from her appearance that she’s so disgusting. A very cute spotted thing:

The small postman, also known as the red postman (Heliconius erato), is interesting because it always tries to fly along the same route, which is why it got its name:

A purple rose (Pachliopta kotzebuea) strolls along the pavement in search of adventure:

Red and dotted. So similar and so different:

This is what the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory - unexpectedly fascinating and educational. By the way, photographers can call and register themselves a time for photography on certain days. A couple of hours before the opening of the greenhouse, you can come with a tripod and photograph whatever your heart desires. But after the butterfly narium is opened for other visitors to enter, the tripods will have to be removed so as not to disturb others.

About owls

A report on a visit to the Butterfly Narium would not be complete without mentioning the bonus mini-exhibition that took place there. As part of the exhibition, visitors were presented with a dozen stuffed various owls and three living specimens - two owls and one small buzzard.

Yes, initially I thought it was a buzzard, but then knowledgeable people corrected me, calling this bird a hitherto unknown word for Hobby . But a little later it dawned on them that we are talking about Canada, and Hobbies are not found here, so I again return to the buzzard.

Owls are absolutely unique creatures; it was impossible to tear yourself away. And they showed reciprocal interest, watching me with their fantastic eyes:

The second owl, or rather the Spotted Owl (Strix varia), was larger and calmer. With a calm, philosophical look, she sat on the girl’s arm, periodically shifting her paws on her paw:

Well, the buzzard was exhibited simply for company, so that the ladies would not be bored. Proud, beautiful birds of the falcon family: