Category: ARTHROPODS


4-3-17 Bat Wing Butterfly from Ron’s Rainforest Butterfly Series

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April 3, 2017

TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Papilionidae (Swallowtail butterflies)

Genus/species: Atrophaneura semperi

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: The body has red hairs with black wings. The underside of the hind wings have red markings. Females are dark-brown with light pink markings on the upperside of the wings.

Wingspan is 12–15 cm (4.6-6 in)

DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The Bat Wing Butterfly is found in primary rain forest habitats, but occasionally also in advanced secondary forest during rainy season.

References

California Academy of Science Rainforest 201

Ron’s WordPress Shortlink http://wp.me/p1DZ4b-1NL

Ron’s flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/33485856001/in/album-72157608449327886/

EOL eol.org/pages/131251/details

Animal Diversity Web
 animaldiversity.org/accounts/Atrophaneura_semperi/classif…

 

 

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3-30-17 Julia Longwing from Ron’s Rainforest Butterfly Series

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March 30, 2017

TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies)
Family: Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)
Tribe: Heliconiini

Genus/species: Dryas julia

Female below

Julia Longwingbutterfly female 3779880432_9f39949f0e_b

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Elongate forewings, thus the common name Males bright orange above and below; upper side of hindwing has narrow black border on outer margin. Female duller, with more pronounced black markings above.

Wing Span: 3 1/4 – 3 5/8 inches.

Male below

Julia Longwingbutterfly Male 3506886372_2a38133601_o

DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Brazil north through Central America, Mexico, West Indies, peninsular Florida, and South Texas. Strays as far north as eastern Nebraska. Found in subtropical forest openings and edges, and nearby fields.

DIET IN THE WILD: Caterpillars feed on passion vines; adults on nectar from flowers.

DIET IN CAPTIVITY: Butterflies in the Academy Rainforest thrive on nectar provided by biologists and by the many flowers in the exhibit. The also take up juices and pulp from soft fruits at feeding stations.

Male below

Julia Longwingbutterfly Male IMG_0422

REPRODUCTION: Like all species in the subfamily Heliconiinae, also known as heliconians or longwings, adults lay eggs only on select host plants of the genus Passiflora, commonly called passion vines or passion flowers. D. julia eggs are laid singly on new growth; caterpillars feed on leaves.

References

California Academy of Sciences Docent Rainforest Training Manual 2014

Ron’s flickr  http://www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/sets/72157608449327886/with/3506886372/

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden www.lewisginter.org/sexually-dimorphic-butterflies/

Butterflies and Moths  www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Dryas-iulia

Tree of Life  tolweb.org/Dryas_iulia/70435

Encyclopedia of Life eol.org/pages/158533/details

Ron’s WordPress Shortlink http://wp.me/p1DZ4b-133

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3-28-17 Isabella’s Longwing from Ron’s Butterfly Series

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March 28, 2017

TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies)
Family: Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)
Subfamily: Heliconiinae

Genus/species: Eueides isabella

Isabella’s Longwing 3142851869_bae440d7fe_b

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: The forewing is elongated with a rounded apex. Wings are similar above and below. Apical half of forewing is black with yellow areas and the basal half is orange with a black stripe. E, isabellas hindwing is orange with 2 black stripes with white dots along the black outer margin.

Wing span 7.8 – 9 cm (3 1/16 – 3 1/2 in.in)

wing bottom

Isabella’s Longwing 3142838083_ea56d1fbc3_b

DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Isabella’s Longwing is widely distributed in Central America and throughout northern South America south through Brazil. They occasionally migrate to the southern U.S., especially Texas. Found from sea level to 1,500 m (4,900 feet) in canopy of the tropical forests.

Isabella’s Longwing IMG_2621

DIET IN THE WILD: Caterpillars: host passion vine leaves; adults: nectar and pollen.

REPRODUCTION: Males mate with receptive females, which may breed more than once. Not a pupal mater. (See Zebra Longwing). Eggs are laid singly on underside of host plant.

Isabella’s Longwing 4747789342_133268328d_o

MORTALITY: Like all Heliconians, they are long-lived.

References

California Academy of Sciences Rainforest 2017 

Butterflies and Moths of North America  www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/eueides-isabella

EOL eol.org/pages/155267/details

Ron’s WordPress Shortlink  http://wp.me/p1DZ4b-13d

Ron’s flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/3142851869/in/album-72157608449327886/

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3-27-17 Orchid Mantis from Ron’s Mantis Series

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March 27, 2017

TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Mantodea
Family: Hymenopodidae

Genus/species: Hymenopus coronatus 

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: The Orchid Mantis look like an orchid. With white/pink projections over their legs, neck, and abdomen. The four walking legs mimic flower petals. Color changes with maturity to match their surroundings. As adults both species possess fully grown wings, and the male can fly very well.
Sexual dimorphism is marked. The males may be less than half the size of females.

Length of females up to 6 cm (2.4 in), males up to 3 cm (1.2 in)

DISTRIBUTION: Malaysia, Indonesia and Borneo

DIET IN THE WILD: H. coronatus is carnivorous feeding on flying insects.

Male mantis below

REPRODUCTION: During the 1st instar hatchlings, orchid mantises resemble ants with black bodies and red legs. Only after they have shed their skin one time (2nd instar), they become white. After a few more sheds, they will get their final color, white or pink, males with a brownish-purple “necklace”, and females with a green necklace.

References

California Academy of Sciences Rainforest level one, 2017
Vetted Academy biologist

Ron’s flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/32772216524/in/album-72157620567930293/

Ron’s WordPress Shortlink wp.me/p1DZ4b-1Nw

World Association of Zoos and Aquariums WAZA  http://www.waza.org/en/zoo/choose-a-species/invertebrates/insects-and-millipedes/hymenopus-coronatus

EOL www.eol.org/pages/3489686/details

insectstore insectstore.com/mantids/hymenopus-coronatus-orchid-mantis

 

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3-24-17 Blue Morpho from Ron’s Rainforest Butterfly Series

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March 24, 2017

TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies)
Family: Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)

Genus/species: Morpho peleides

Top-side (dorsal)

Blue Morpho 3175390675_70bdc9fe60_o

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Among the largest butterflies in the world, wing span from five to eight inches.

Color of Life notation: Color Sources, structural color, iridescence.
Wing tops are an iridescent blue, edged with black, caused not by a true color, such as the pigment dye of blue jeans, but by structural coloration resulting from tiny, overlapping scales that cover their wings. Because of the precise angle of the ridges they form, the scales which reflect blue light back to our eyes. The contrasting underside of the wing is brown with a confusion of eyespots that can startle a potential predator, thereby allowing the butterfly to escape predators. This is called deistic behavior.
Females less brilliantly colored.

Ref. California Academy of Sciences Color of Life Exhibit, May 2015

underside and topside

Blue Morpho Butterfly 4330619902_ec31e9c058_b

DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Tropics of Latin America from Mexico to Colombia. Feeds and sleeps on or near the forest floor, but when mating, they fly throughout forest layers.

DIET IN THE WILD: Caterpillar, it chews leaves but adults can’t chew so they drinks juices of rotting plants and animals, tree sap, and wet mud, sipping all with its straw-like proboscis.

Underside (ventral)

REPRODUCTION: Like most butterflies, males release pheromones to attract females. Fertilized eggs hatch in about 9 days. The caterpillar of  M. peleides is red-brown with patches of bright green.

Blue Morpho Butterfly 8677456846_7df05acbb0_oLONGEVITY: Total lifespan: egg to adult, about 4.5 months; adults (butterflies): about 1 month.

PREDATORS: Birds (jacamar and flycatcher) and large insects.

CONSERVATION: IUCN Not Evaluated, but under some pressure as trophies for collectors and deforestation of tropical forests..

REMARKS:  M. peleides brilliant reflection is so intense that pilots report seeing their flash of color as the butterflies warm themselves above the treetops. Different angles of view (and so different angles of reflecting ridges) produce variations in the shades of blue perceived.

References

California Academy of Sciences Rainforest 2017

California Academy of Sciences Color of Life Exhibit 2015

Ron’s flickr  http://www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/sets/72157608449327886/with/3175390675/

Ron’s WordPress shortlink  http://wp.me/p1DZ4b-12J

Encyclopedia of Life eol.org/pages/139904/details

WAZA  www.waza.org/en/zoo/choose-a-species/invertebrates/insect…

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3-22-17 Great Mormon Swallowtail from Ron’s Rainforest Butterfly Series

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March 22, 2017

TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies)
Family: Papilionidae (Swallowtail butterflies)

Genus/species: Papilio memnon

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: P.memon has four male and many female forms, Male Great Mormons never have tails, while females may or may not.
Span.is large up to 150 millimetres (4.7 to 5.9 in)

male wing upperside (dorsal)

DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Range: Southeast Asia. Adults inhabit forest clearings and disturbed areas,

male wing underside (ventral)

DIET IN THE WILD: P. memnon visits flowers of Poinsettia, Jasminum, Lantana, Canna, and Salvia. (known to mud-puddle)

Female wing upperside (dorsal)

REPRODUCTION: Adults lay single eggs on the underside of leaves, which hatch in three days. For the first four instars, caterpillars resemble bird droppings. Pupation occurs after about 2.5 weeks.

Female wing underside (ventral)

References

California Academy of Sciences Rainforest 2017 Vetting Tim Wong

Ron’s flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/33144076391/in/album-72157608449327886/

EOL  eol.org/pages/131345/details

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden www.lewisginter.org/sexually-dimorphic-butterflies/

Butterfly corner.net en.butterflycorner.net/Papilio-memnon-Great-Mormon.1248.0…

 

3-6-17

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3-21-17 Common Green Birdwing from Ron’s Butterfly Series

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March 21, 2017

TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies)
Family: Papilionidae (Swallowtail butterflies)

Genus/ species: Ornithoptera priamus

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Variable between numerous subspecies.
The top of the forewing is velvety black with a green subcostal and marginal stripe. The bottom of the forewing is black with a chain of bluish or green postdiscal spots.
The hindwings are green. At the wing’s leading edge there are yellow-gold spots with a postdiscal chain of black spots. The edge of the hindwing is black. The underside is dark green or bluish. The yellow-golden spots are transparent. The veins are partly black and the marginal edge of the wing is black. At the outer edge there is a postdiscal chain of black spots.

The body (abdomen) is yellow. Head and thorax are black. The underside of thorax has a red hair coat.
Wingspan: 5 in. (12.7 cm.)  Male below Topwing (dorsal)

Male bottom side (ventral)

 O. priamus is sexually dimorphic. The basic color of the female is dark-brown with a chain of white postdiscal spots on the forewings and a chain of larger white postdiscal spots with dark centres on the hindwing. The underside is very similar to the upper.

The female is larger than the male and in the upper range of the wing-span.

Female below top wing (dorsal)

Female bottom wing (ventral)

 

 

DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Found in the Australasia / Indomalaya (Australia) ecozone.

References

California Academy of Sciences Rainforest 2017 Vetting Tim Wong

Ron’s WordPress Shortlink  http://wp.me/p1DZ4b-1Mz

Ron’s flickr  https://www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/33116609042/in/album-72157608449327886/

EOL eol.org/pages/130749/overview

www.nagypal.net/images/zzpriamu.htm

 Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden www.lewisginter.org/sexually-dimorphic-butterflies/

butterflycorner.net en.butterflycorner.net/Ornithoptera-priamus.952.0.html

insecta.pro  insecta.pro/taxonomy/15076

 

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3-19-17 Longwing Butterfly (Heliconius hewitsoni) from Ron’s Rainforest Series

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March 18, 2017

TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies)
Family: Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies)

Genus/species: Heliconius hewitsoni

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: A distinctive black butterfly with yellow transverse bands on fore- and hindwings. H. hewitsoni is very similar in general appearance to its Müllerian mimic H.pachinus. (Species with strong defences evolve to resemble one another and deter predation).

 

DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT: Found in the province of Chiriqui (Panama) and the Pacific slopes of Costa Rica. Usually individuals fly rapidly and in the canopy.

REMARKS: Heliconius are recognized by their large eyes, long antennae, characteristic elongate wing-shape, teardrop-shaped hindwing discal (disc-like) cell, and distinctive color patterns.

Adult butterflies systematically collect pollen from flowers, which they masticate on the proboscis to dissolve out amino acids. This allows caterpillars to develop relatively rapidly (since they do not need to store nutrients for egg and sperm production), and allows adults to have a greatly extended lifespan – up to 8 months – in the wild.

A second unusual trait found in some Heliconius species is a unique mating behaviour known as pupal-mating. Males of certain species search larval food plants for female pupae. The males then sit on the pupae a day before emergence, and mating occurs the next morning, before the female has completely closed (insect emerging from the pupa stage.)

References

California Academy of Sciences Rainforest 2017 Photo vetted Tim Wong

EOL eol.org/pages/18499/details

tolweb.org/Heliconius_hewitsoni/72941

www.insectlifeforms.com/6050205531__236/Bow_Wings__Helico...

Ron’s flickr  https://www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/32471538194/in/album-72157608449327886/

Ron’s WordPress Shortlink http://wp.me/p1DZ4b-1N3

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3-13-17 Atlas Beetle from Ron’s Insect Series

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March 13, 2017

TAXONOMY
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera (Beetles)
Family: Scarabaeidae  (Scarab Beetles)
Subfamily: Dynastinae (Rhinocerous Beetles)

Genus/species: Chalosoma caucasus

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Males have large curved horns which are used when fighting other males for a female. The smaller females do not have horns but are covered with fine tiny hairs called setae. The male female differences are an example of sexual dimorphism.

It is the largest of the genus Chalcosoma and one of Asia’s largest beetles. Length up to 90–120 millimetres (3.5–4.7 in)

DISTRIBUTION: Found from Malaysia south into Indonesia

DIET IN THE WILD: Feed on compost from decaying logs and wood.

REPRODUCTION: Larvae emerge from eggs and grow through 3 instar stages, then a pupal stage in a papery covering (7.5 inches in length) followed by emergence of the beetle after several months

References

California Academy of Sciences Rainforest 2017 Vetting Tim Wong

EOL eol.org/pages/10753705/overview

Natural Worlds.org www.naturalworlds.org/scarabaeidae/species/Chalcosoma_cau…

Ron’s flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/32488979164/in/album-72157620708938680/

Ron’s WordPress Shortlink http://wp.me/p1DZ4b-1MX

 

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3-12-17 Jungle Nymph from Ron’s Insect Series

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March 12, 2017

TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Phasmatodea (walking sticks, plasmids and ghost insects)
Family: Heteropterygidae

Genus/species: Heteropteryx dilatata

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: Heteropteryx dilatata are well camouflaged. The males are long and slender and are brown with beige in color (length up to 10 cm in, light and able to fly.). The adult females are lime green, very large and have a very wide body (length up to 15 cm or 6 in). Wings are short and lay like a cap on the back of the insect and can’t fly. Males are much smaller and a mottled brown color. Both sexes have small spikes on their head and body, but the female has more of them.

DISTRIBUTION: Malaysia

DIET IN THE WILD: Blackberry, raspberry, rose and ivy leaves.

REPRODUCTION: Sexual.  Females deposit the dark, circular eggs in moist soil. They hatch in 12 to 14 months.

Male Jungle Nymph below

 

REMARKS: Both sexes have small spikes on their upper bodies, more numerous in the female, who also has very large spines on her hind legs that can snap together as a scissor-like weapon.

References

California Academy of Sciences Rainforest Level 4

EOL  http://eol.org/pages/1077486/details

ADW http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Heteropteryx_dilatata/classification/

Keeping Insects  https://www.keepinginsects.com/stick-insect/species/jungle-nymph/

Ron’s WordPress Shortlink  http://wp.me/p1DZ4b-1MO

Ron’s flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/cas_docents/33312595406/in/album-72157620708938680/

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