Summer is the season to see butterflies, we all know that butterflies have a wide variety of species, and the colors and markings on their wings are extremely rich.
The patterns on the butterfly wings are all-encompassing, including brilliant sun, moon, and stars, picturesque pastoral mountains, colorful flowers and trees, abstract patterns with rich connotations, as well as divine figures, lifelike birds, animals, insects, and fish, as well as magical and realistic English letters, and exquisite Arabic numerals...
These colors and markings have different roles and meanings, today we first take a look at the butterflies that can "stealth"!
Multi-figure warning!!
Why do butterflies use "concealment"?
We can often see that the reverse side of the butterfly's wings has a hidden color in order to camouflage itself during rest, while its front has a striking pattern, which can only be seen when the wings are opened, which is called the frightening color.
Concealed color and camouflage behavior often occur in the butterfly's larval and pupal stages, which are the most predatory periods of the butterfly's life. Color is often combined with protective behaviors, such as many butterfly larvae feeding at night, climbing on the host plant at dusk, and returning to a safer leaf base during the day; hidden colors in the adult stage are more likely to appear on the reverse side of the wing.
Citrus butterfly butterfly butterfly larvae are frightened
Butterflies that disguise themselves
1
Fish-eyed beads - white-spotted butterfly
Penthema adelma, also known as the four-star cloud butterfly, belongs to the large eye butterfly, and the larvae feed on green bamboo and phoenix bamboo. Its larvae are sharp at both ends, and the color is yellow, very much like a dead bamboo leaf, and it is easy to achieve the hidden effect of fish eye mixing beads.
2
True and false are difficult to distinguish - butterfly larvae
The young larvae of the butterfly, with a dark pattern on their bodies, resemble bird droppings when stationary, as if to tell ill-intentioned predators: "I am not worth your attention." "When some of the older larvae of the butterfly are frightened and turn out their stinky horns, they also make the three segments of the chest bulge into a very large triangle, and with the three large black spots on it, they form a threatening posture in the shape of a poisonous snake, so as to defend themselves."
3
Chameleon - Purple Glitter Butterfly
The camouflage color of the larval stage of the purple butterfly (Apatura iris) is a good example of a hidden color. Its adults lay their eggs on willow leaves in July, and the larvae feed on willow leaves as soon as they hatch. At 3 instars, pale green slugs crawl to a branch of a branch and spend the winter there. The larvae in the overwintering turn pale brown, which exactly matches the color of the bark. When spring comes, the larvae resume feeding on the buds that have just been spit out, and soon turn green again, taking exactly the same form as the willow leaves. When it rests, it also disguises itself as a willow leaf. Its pupa is another masterpiece of camouflage, with shapes and colors that resemble a dead willow leaf.
4
Confusing vision — White hook butterfly
Concealed colors can be combined with patterns, wings and rest states to enhance camouflage. The most perceptible feature of a butterfly when resting is the triangular outline of its wings. We can often find some additional patterns on the hidden colors of butterflies, which play a role in eliminating the outline of the wings or destroying their overall shape.
The brown color on the reverse side of the wings of the white hook butterfly resembles dead leaves, and the reverse side of the wings is alternating dark brown and light brown, and the outer edge is uneven. When it rests, the tangled pattern on the reverse side of the wing destroys the characteristic contour of the wing, thus visually destroying the clear line of the wing rim.
5
Confused pass - dead leaf butterfly
Species of the genus Kallima are perhaps the most frequently cited examples of natural camouflage in animals. When rested, its anterior and posterior wings form a large, sessile oval leaf that is essentially the same color as the dead leaves. The pattern on the back of the wing has a "midrib" and even a "flaw", like a "borer hole" and "moldy spot".
The wings of the dead-leaved butterfly are very similar to the fallen leaves on the ground in the woods, and can almost be faked. Therefore, when they land on the ground and retract their wings, they "disappear" on the ground, which can well dodge predator attacks. When the danger passes, they flaunt their wings and fly high. However, after their wings are spread, the pale blue part of the top of the wings may be revealed.
Do you see where the butterflies are?
6
Avoid the heavy and light - the magic of the eye spots
Another protective color for butterflies is the use of flower spots to attract the attention of predators, thus avoiding injuries to the fatal parts. Eye spots are patterns that are present on most butterfly wings and are perhaps the best example of this color.
Eye spots are most common in ocular butterflies, glitter butterflies, and ring butterflies. Some of these eye-like markings may be simple, such as the "eye" of many eye butterflies consisting of a black round spot with only a thin white line at the edge; some eye spots have a striking resemblance to the eyes of vertebrates, such as the so-called owl butterfly.
Eye spots on the opposite side of the owl butterfly's wings
Most eye spots are considered to be defensive "target areas" that attract bird predators to catch, and even if damaged, they do not endanger the life of the butterfly, and some can still move normally. In many species of the gray butterfly family , eye spots combine with structural features to form a " prosthetic head " at the inner horn of the hindwing , and this part of the wing often extends into small tails. As these butterflies roost, their wings close and rub to cause the caudal process to vibrate as if the antennae of the head were moving.
The ecological significance of butterfly markings is far more than that, and interested partners can read the article "The Magical Camouflage of Butterfly Fairies" in the August 2017 issue of "Knowledge is Power" magazine.
Finally, let's take a look at it together
Let's have beautiful wings of various butterflies!