Come sit with a Paper Kite Butterfly

by Ruth Jolly

Title

Come sit with a Paper Kite Butterfly

Artist

Ruth Jolly

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Paper kite Idea Leuconoe Rice Paper, Tree Nymph butterfly.his large, striking, black-and-white butterfly is also known as the rice-paper butterfly, perhaps because of the unusual texture of the wings, but also perhaps because the way it flits and floats in the air is said to be like a piece of paper drifting in the wind. Another name is the paper-kite butterfly. It is a giant insect, the largest butterfly in Japan, with a wingspan of 95 to 110 mm. The black spots along the bottom edges of the wings are unevenly joined together, as are the spots just above them, giving the wings a ragged, striped appearance. The chrysalis is yellow with black marks. The base of the wings, where they join the thorax, are tinted yellow. The front legs, should you get close enough to notice, are short and brush-like and useless for walking. They have club-shaped antennae. The plant alkaloids apparently have a similar structure to the male pheromones of this butterfly, so it appears that there has been an ancient evolutionarily relationship between the butterfly and its food plant. Probably the alkaloids evolved first, and male nymph butterflies evolved to have similar-smelling pheromones. Alkaloids in plants that the butterfly does not feed on are completely unlike the male pheromone. The caterpillars accumulate the bitter alkaloids in their bodies, protecting them from predation. The alkaloids remain in the insect's tissue even when it transforms into an adult. Through literally bitter experience, predators learn to avoid both the caterpillars and the adults.

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April 28th, 2013

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