Blue Morpho Butterflies and White Gerbers
by Janette Boyd
Title
Blue Morpho Butterflies and White Gerbers
Artist
Janette Boyd
Medium
Photograph - Photo/texture/digital
Description
Photo of Blue Morphos taken at the Niagara Falls Butterfly Conservatory. White Gerber flowers added with original texture by FAA Artist, Jai Johnson, called Coastal 4.
Featured in the following FAA Groups:
*Groovy Butterflies
*Arts Fantastic World
Rainforest Morpho Butterfly A Morpho Butterfly (Morpho menelaus), is one of over 80 described species of butterflies that reside in the rainforests. Morpho butterflies are neotropical butterflies found mostly in Central America as well as Mexico and South America including Brazil, Costa Rica and Venezuela. Morpho Butterflies dwell in the forest canopy layer and rarely come near the understorey and forest floor layers.
Morpho butterflies range in wingspan from the 7.5 centimetres (3 inches) to the larger 20 centimetres (8 inches) of the Sunset Morpho (M. hecuba).
Many Morpho butterflies are coloured in metallic, shimmering shades of blue and green on the upper wing surface. The underside of the wings resembles foliage, with mottled brown, greys, blacks and reds. The female Morpho butterfly is less vivid than the male. The males bright colouring is designed to intimidate any rivals that might fly into his territory. The males wings reflect the bright, iridescent colour over an extremely wide angle, to maximize its visibility in the rainforest.
These colours are not a result of pigmentation but rather are an example of iridescence (an optical phenomenon characterized as the property of surfaces in which hue changes according to the angle from which the surface is viewed). The colours produced vary with viewing angle, however they are actually surprisingly uniform, perhaps due to the tetrahedral (diamond-like) structural arrangement of the scales. This structure may be called a ‘photonic crystal’.
The ventral side is decorated with ‘ocelli’ or eyespots. Not all Morpho butterflies have iridescent colouration, however, they all have ocelli. The eyes of Morpho butterflies are thought to be highly sensitive to UV light and therefore the males are able to see each other from great distances.
MORPHO BUTTERFLY HABITAT
Morpho butterflies are forest dwellers but will venture into sunny clearings in order to warm themselves. Males are territorial and will chase any would-be rivals.
MORPHO BUTTERFLY DIET
The Morpho butterfly drinks its food rather than eats it. It uses its proboscis (long, protruding mouth part) to drink sap and fruit juices. Morpho butterflies taste with sensors on their legs and taste-smell the air with their antennae.
Morpho butterflies feed on the juices of fermenting fruit with which they may also be lured. The inebriated butterflies wobble in flight and are easy to catch. Morphos will also feed on the bodily fluids of dead animals and on fungi. Therefore, Morpho butterflies may be important in dispersing fungal spores.
MORPHO BUTTERFLY BEHAVIOUR
Morpho butterflies are diurnally active (active during the day) and have the capability of ‘crypis’, meaning when they sleep at night, they fold their wings so that only the dark underside is seen, making them less visible to predators. It also has a ‘flashing’ defence mechanism, meaning, due to the slow beating pace of their wings, the iridescent blue is flashed and then disappears as the wings are raised only to return in another place in a short while. This causes predators to loose track of the Morpho butterfly when it is flying as they only glimpse blue flashes as the brown underside makes them invisible in the thick foliage of the jungle.
https://animalcorner.co.uk/animals/morpho-butterfly/
Uploaded
June 30th, 2017
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Viewed 430 Times - Last Visitor from Wilmington, DE on 04/24/2024 at 2:38 PM
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Comments (4)
Anita Faye
Janette, beautifully textured Blue Morpho Butterflies! Featured on Groovy Butterflies! https://fineartamerica.com/groups/groovy-butterflies.html
Janette Boyd replied:
Thank you so much for the honor of being featured in "Groovy Butterflies", Anita!