“There once was an ugly duckling,”goes the old song. This could not be more true of these stunningbutterflies and their most peculiar caterpillars. Another opportunity toscratch your head at the vagaries of Mother Nature, take a look at thispictorial proof of butterfly beauty and caterpillar creepiness!
Foundin the Eastern side of the US, this butterfly often produces two orthree batches of eggs each year which puts it among the more fecund ofbutterflies. You can see the black “tiger” strips on the wing of themale (a shadow of these stripes can be seen on the female but they donot to attract a mate – the male does all the leg work!).
Beautifulas this species is, the big surprise is in the caterpillar stage of itslife. Usually it was lie on a branch or leaf and will appear to be apiece of bird dropping, which is nice. However, if you disturb it thenit rears its head and looks pretty much like a snake that is about togive you a piece. A very scary caterpillar!
TheCommon Nawab is found all over Asia and is a superb specimen with awingspan of about ten centimeters. It’s a fast flyer – you have toreally be quick off the mark to spot one and study it. As well as thespeed it lives in the canopy, making it an even more difficult speciesto enjoy. One of the more remarkable aspects of this butterfly is whatits caterpillar looks like! More slug-looking than anything, this littleguy is giving off a message to his predators that he will not make atasty meal. I am sure I saw something like this on Doctor Who!
Althoughnot the most colorful of our list, the Evening Brown is a lovelybutterfly, with its mosaic of eyespots and cloudy wings. The eyespotsare great for confusing predators. It comes from Australia and can beseen in the bush just before complete darkness. It loves the odd can oflager and a barbecue. It looks like a leaf, which is a shame, but youshould see its caterpillar! Do not mistake the purple protuberance foreyes – these are horns designed to make it look scary to other creatures(notably those of its own size). What makes this caterpillar doublydisturbing is the fact it has horns at the end of its body as well. Thatway, it looks as if either end is the front end – and so its message towould be attackers is don’t mess with me – bottom or top! No end ofrude jokes could be considered, but I will err on the side of cautionand let you use your imagination.
Thisbutterfly is named after the green mineral malachite – and you can seewhy. It is usually found in Central and South America but you will getsightings as far north as Texas and Florida. It is rare, however, and itholds a grisly secret! This beautiful and dazzling butterfly feeds offflower nectar. Fair enough, you might say, but it also feeds on batdung, dead animals and rotting fruit. From waste and death comes suchincredible pulchritude. One of life’s mysteries to ponder, I guess! Thecaterpillar looks like its dad, don’t you think?
Abeautiful butterfly from the south of the US, the Great PurpleHairstreak is at the moment undergoing intensive personality disordertherapy because it doesn’t actually have any purple on it. The scales onits upper wings are blue, so giving it its alternative name, the GreatBlue Hairstreak (GBH to his friends, which stands for Grievous BodilyHarm in the UK!).
Thecaterpillar (larvae more rightly) is pretty much the overweight kid ofthe caterpillar world. Bulbous and seemingly hunch backed, he can’t makemany friends in the school yard, can he? Reminds me of Whoopi Goldbergin “The Color Purple” where she utters the words “Boy, you sure isugly!”
Abutterfly found throughout most of North America, this beauty is alsothe state butterfly of Oklahoma. If you have dill or parsley in yourgarden you may well attract its attention for its caterpillars feed onthese plants. The Swallowtail is not huge – about eight to elevencentimeters but the red spot at its base just makes this butterflyperfect to me. Another of its unique features is that when it is indanger, its osmetrium (a forked gland which looks like a snake’stongue!) releases a smell that warns off predators!
Thecaterpillar makes me think of what may have happened if a tiger and aworm had gone through that machine in the movie “The Fly”!
这种毛虫的样子让我想起了电影《变形人魔》，如果把老虎和虫子放进那个机器出来估计就是这效果吧！
It can also produce two small “horns” to intimidate and scare away would be predators. Looks like the light just went on!
它还能在头部出现两个小小的“角”来恐吓并吓走可能的捕食者。看起来就像亮起了警灯一样！
The Morpho Nestira
7.国王闪蝶
Thesebutterflies are simply dazzling. They are from the category Morpho,they are found in South America and their calling card is theirabsolutely dazzling iridescent wings which from the right angle has thesheen of aluminum. These babies are big – their wing span can be up totwenty centimeters (or around eight inches for the purists out there!).Ranging from Mexico to Venezuela this gorgeous insect is protected underinternational law and should never be sold in glass jars! Itsunderside, strangely, is brown with “eyes” – a typical camouflagetechnique.
Its caterpillar is, well let’s not put too fine a point on it – gross.
而它的毛虫，嗯，我们坦白的说，实在很恶心人。
Magellan’s Iridescent Birdwing
8.珠光凤蝶
Anincredibly rare species, the Magellan’s Iridescent Birdwing (or TroidesMagellanus) is only found in Taiwan. It is thought there are onlyaround two thousand of them left in the wild, with possibly another fivehundred in collections around the globe. The yellow you can see in thepicture is modified at certain angles to a blue-green color. This canonly be seen at a very narrow angle to the insect itself. This is knownas a grazing iridescence and is brought about because of lightdiffraction. The Morpho above, however, gets its iridescence through theridge lamellae (a very thin structure, similar to scales) on its wings.
Thebutterfly is really among the swan-ugly duckling school of butterflies.Its caterpillar isn’t much to look at really, is it? Bless!
这种蝴蝶可真是蝴蝶家族中丑小鸭变天鹅的一员了。它的毛虫可真没什么可看的，不是吗？天哪！
Orange-barred Sulphur
9.南美大黄蝶
Thisspecies only colonized the Florida (from the South) in the nineteentwenties, which corresponds approximately when the state became a havenfor the older of own species. Surely no coincidence? A species thatmakes you draw breath when you encounter it, the male has the full onorange spots on his wings which go so well with the remainder of hisyellowy wings. This is a butterfly that is designated “secure globally”so you – and your grand children – are quite likely to see it in theright place!
The caterpillar might well give you nightmares though!
但是，它的毛虫却可能引起你噩梦！
The Monarch
10.君主蝶
TheMonarch is one of those better known butterflies because of the mammothjourneys it can undertake. It’s a wonder that Disney or Pixar haven’ttuned in on this yet, it would probably make a fantastic animatedadventure! They make a huge migration from the north to the south of theUS, mostly starting in August and the other way around in the spring.The lifespan of the Monarch is only two months (once full grown).However, to get around that the last generation of the summer enters adiapause. That is a shutting down of their reproductive phase. As suchthey can live much longer – up to seven or eight months – and get thoseeggs laid at the beginning of the next spring.
Monarchcaterpillar has now been spotted in places such as Bermuda. This isbecause their staple food, milkweed, is being used more and more as agarden ornament. How they actually figure out where it is, I don’t have aclue! “Oh, guess what, boys!” one says at the Monarch Club, “Mrs Jonesof Acacia Drive, Bermuda, has planted milkweed. Fancy a bit?”
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