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| Picture Notes: This absolutely gorgeous butterfly was the “star attraction” at the newly opened Butterfly Habitat inside the Las Vegas Springs Preserve. Though I had to patiently wait considerable time to get this guy to spread his wings, the pictures here are evidence that it was worth the wait. Notice in (Figs. 01 and 04) that the wings are so thin, that you can actually see the many “eyespots” on the underneath side of the wings. |
| Description: As its common name implies, the blue morpho butterfly’s wings are a 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. Blue morphos live in the tropical forests of Latin America from Mexico to Colombia and spend most of their time on the forest floor and in the lower shrubs and trees of the understory with their wings folded. The blue morpho’s entire lifespan lasts only 115 days, which means most of their time is spent eating and reproducing. Their diet changes throughout each stage of its lifecycle. As a caterpillar, it chews leaves of many varieties, but prefers to dine on plants in the pea family. When it becomes a butterfly it can no longer chew, but 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. |
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