Hi @Sjuday2527
Lovely shots
Iām not sure about the 1st 2 butterflies, they are Hesperides, but Iām not able to tell which. They could be Udaspes folus, but Iām not sure.
The mating pair is Udaspes folus (Grass Demon). This is a butterfly belonging to the Hesperiidae family. The caterpillar is found on ginger and has this really neat way of hiding by bending over the margin of a leaf and sticking it down to the leaf face, creating a little tunnel. When it wishes to eat, it comes out and eats and then goes back to hide. If you have the opportunity watch one of them build the tunnels. It isnāt easy for something so small to bend over a leaf and glue it up. Would be nice if you could see how its done and share it with us.
The 4th and 5th butterfly is the same. This is an image of the female Hypolimnas Bolina (Great Eggfly) . The male and female look very different (sexual dimorphism) and the female is a batsian mimic of Euploea core which happens to be quite distasteful to predators.
Finally, butterflies 6 and 7 are Junonia Atlites (Gray Pansy).
The common butterfly you mentioned looks a lot like Euploea core or the common crow. Iāve seen plenty of these in Kochi. I could be wrong, but they do look strikingly similar.
@Akshitha,
First let me point you to Euploea core - Wikipedia and within that the section on mimicry.
Second, I already know that in Mumbai there are only 2 butterflies that could pass as the common crow (Euploea core), these are the female great eggfly and the common palm fly, both of which are found at HBCSE, by the way. So when I see anything that looks like a common crow, I look at the white patches. If it looks like 2 white patches are fused, and also the wing margins are serrated then I know Iām looking at Mrs Hypolimnas Bolina.
Also again Krushnamegh Kunteās Butterflies of Peninsular India is a fantastic guide for the starter. You should really try it.
@Sjuday2527@Akshitha
Are you studying different patterns of wings in butterflies? What all different patterns did you observe? It will be good, if they are listed down.
Is there a research question in wing patterns of butterflies? What is the objective?
Studied as an example of natural selection for centuries, wing pattern mimicry in butterflies enables non-toxic species to mimic the pattern, color and shape of a toxic speciesā wings to deter predation. A single region of the genome regulates this process in some swallowtail butterflies. Due to the complexity of forms involved with mimicry, researchers have assumed this region contained a āsupergeneāāmultiple tightly-linked genes, each controlling a subset of the wing pattern. However, little was known about this hypothesized mimicry supergene.
To identify its function, Kronforst and his team studied Papilio polytes , an Asian swallowtail butterfly species that displays sex-limited mimicry. Females possess one of four different wing patterns, three of which mimic toxic species, while the remaining female form and all males remain non-mimetic.
The most distinctive wing pattern Iāve noticed are in swallowtail butterflies. Their hindwings have a forked appearance.
The color patterns on the wings of butterflies are unique and this is what helps one easily identify different species of butterflies.
The wing patterns on these surfaces usually help with camouflage and avoidance of predators. On the other hand, these wings also attract potential mates.
Hereās a question - How do we determine the wing pattern and colour of one is more attractive, or better at avoiding predation than another butterfly?
Mimicry in butterflies is also a very interesting area to study
Well, this topic of mimicry ,i am totally unaware. What I think is they may be doing it in order to attract females (just a wild guess) . Please tell me more about mimicry,what is it and is it seen only in butterflies or other insects too?
Interestingly enough it is nearly always the female that have morphs. Read up on batesian mimicry.
There is another type of mimicry called mullerian mimicry where a group of butterflies, all distasteful, have evolved to mimic each other.
To answer @Akshitha, I have often asked the question, how do we know which butterfly is distasteful and which isnāt. Iām assuming the early entomologist would watch birds, lizards eating butterflies and observe the butterfly being spat out if they were distasteful. But how do we know for sure that Papilio polytes is not distasteful or Graphium agamemnon for that matter.
@jtd and everyone ā¦can we make an objective because as I said I am clicking these pictures just to know which species does it belong to? Any experimental design using butterflies ???
When we are talking about bad tasting butterflies or any other animal are we talking about any particular compounds that are bad tasting or something completely different?
One of the easiest ways to tell the difference between a butterfly and a moth is to look at the antennae. A butterflyās antennae are club-shaped with a long shaft and a bulb at the end. A mothās antennae are feathery or saw-edged.
Butterflies and moths have many things in common, mainly scales that cover their bodies and wings. These scales are actually modified hairs. Butterflies and moths belong to the order Lepidoptera (from the Greek lepis meaning scale and pteron meaning wing).
Here are some other ways that help to identify butterflies and moths:
Wings
Butterflies tend to fold their wings vertically up over their backs. Moths tend to hold their wings in a tent-like fashion that hides the abdomen.
Butterflies are typically larger and have more colorful patterns on their wings. Moths are typically smaller with drab-colored wings.
Anatomy
Moths have a frenulum, which is a wing-coupling device. Butterflies do not have frenulums. Frenulums join the forewing to the hind wing, so the wings can work in unison during flight.
Behavior
Butterflies are primariy diurnal, flying in the daytime. Moths are generally nocturnal, flying at night. However, there are moths that are diurnal, such as the buck moth and there are butterflies that are crepuscular, that is, flying at dawn and dusk.
Cocoon/Chrysalis
Cocoons and chrysalides are protective coverings for the pupa. The pupa is the intermediate stage between the larva and adult. A moth makes a cocoon, which is wrapped in a silk covering. A butterfly makes a chrysalis, which is hard, smooth and has no silk covering.
Well this is much to tell whether itās a butterfly or notā¦so from now whenever Iāll see , I will try to look at these differences and will conclude firstly whether itās a butterfly or moth.
Iām sorry, I found this very funny, in the middle of a truly informative and fascinating conversation and journey of discovery, with lovely photographs.
So, one kind of caterpillar is 4-5 cm long, while the other is 2" long.
However, since one inch is in fact 2.54 cm approximately, Iām afraid it would take somebody with a truly exceptional eye to spot the difference in length of these two kinds of caterpillars.