Category: lepidopterans

Readers’ wildlife photos

October 22, 2024 • 8:15 am

Reader Chris Taylor send us part 5 of his series on the flora and fauna of Queensland (see the first four parts here).  You can enlarge Chris’s photos by clicking on them, and his captions are indented.

In this part I will show some of the butterflies of far north Queensland.  Many were photographed at Kuranda, but I was also able to get photos from other places too.  I also saw quite a number of the spectacular Ulysses butterfly, but on this trip, I wasn’t able to capture a photo.

My partner and I rode up from Cairns on the Kuranda Railway. This amazing piece of engineering was built to serve the gold and tin mines on the Tablelands.  From sea level it has to rise over 300 metres over a distance of 30 km. It snakes in and out of steep gorges, and at Stoney Creek it crosses a viaduct built in a very tight curve where the river pours down a set of waterfalls:

At the top of the climb, we pass the Barron Falls, where the Barron River plunges 265m in a number of cascades, descending into the gorge. In the Wet, there is often a huge volume of water falling here, making for a spectacular sight:

Here are the photos of the butterflies.

Orange Migrant, Catopsilia scylla. Wingspan 40mm:

Red Lacewing, Cethosia cydippe. Wingspan 80mm:

Large Grass-yellow, Eurema hecabe, wingspan 50mm.

Blue-Banded Eggfly, Hypolimnas alimena, male, 85mm:

Common Eggfly, Hypolimnas bolina, male, 80mm. The blue/violet colours on the wings does not come from a pigment, but from the refraction of light through the scales. This made it tricky to photograph as the colour kept shifting as the insect moved:

Common Eggfly, Hypolimnas bolina, female, 80mm. The female lacks the iridescence of the male, and instead is marked with patches of white and reddish brown.

Cruiser, Vindula arsinoe, male, Wingspan 80mm:

Cruiser, Vindula arsinoe, female, Wingspan 80mm. The female form of this butterfly lacks the bright orange of the male, but is beautifully marked with white and grey:

Lurcher, Yoma sabina, Wingspan 70mm:

The largest butterfly in Australia, and one of the most spectacular, is the Cairns Birdwing. This is the male of the species. The female is a little bigger, but lacks the iridescent colours of the male, instead being mostly black.

Cairns Birdwing, Ornithoptera euphorion, male, wingspan 120mm:

Readers’ wildlife photos

October 16, 2024 • 8:15 am

Reader Chris Taylor send us part 4 of his series on the flora and fauna of Queensland (see the first three parts here).  You can enlarge his photos by clicking on them, and his captions are indented.

Back at Sunday Camp, there was a Pied Butcherbird, Cracticus nigrogularis, in one of the gum trees.  The Butcherbird is largely carnivorous, and got its name from its habit of sometimes impaling its prey on a thorn in a tree – or on barbed wire:

A Blue-Faced Honeyeater, Entomyzon cyanotis, was feeding in a Callistemon tree outside the main shed:

And a Great Bowerbird, Chlamydera nuchalis, flew away in the dusk. These birds are known for making a bower where the male can display to the female and, if she likes his work, she will mate with him there. She then has to complete the task of raising the brood by herself. The male here has been sneaking into the sheds, and taking anything that takes his fancy to adorn the bower. Clothes pegs and such are not missed, but I believe one of the birds made off with a key fob, complete with key, that was later retrieved from his bower. There is no information about whether this made him a more successful mate!

A Granny’s Cloak moth, Speiredonia spectans, came out for the night. Wingspan about 65mm:

After two weeks working on the reserve, we drove back to the Rainforests on top of the ranges.  This is at Malanda, where we took a short stroll into the rainforest around the North Johnstone River, hoping to see some Tree Kangaroos  – we didn’t find any this time!

Many different fungi were growing in the damp leaf litter, here are two of the most unusual:

Brush Turkeys, Alectura lathami, were busy around the forest. These large birds are members of the Megapodidae or mound builders, as are the Orange footed Scrubfowl that was in part 1.

In the Megapodes,the male builds a nest mound out of leaf litter and earth. The mound of the Brush Turkey can be over 1m high and 4m across. The females then visit the nest and lay their eggs into the mound, where the warmth from the composting mound incubates the eggs. The male then spends all his time adding or removing material to regulate the temperature.

This one is out walking across the car park:

Away from the entrance and deep within the dim light of the canopy, we saw this male Brush Turkey in the process of building a mound. He is using his large feet to kick all the vegetation from the path onto the pile behind him. It is easy to see just how thorough he is being; he hasn’t left much on the part of the path he’s cleared, and he has cleared it like that for some 5m!:

Also in the car park, a Nankeen Night Heron, Nycticorax caledonicus, stood for his portrait.

Finally, we arrived back in Cairns where we would stay for the last week. Near to our apartment was a park with an amazing green Jade Vine, Strongylodon macrobotrys. Not a native of Australia, but what an unusual colour:

Readers’ wildlife photos

September 23, 2024 • 11:30 am

Today’s photos come from Uwe Mueller in Deutschland. Mueller’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them:

Here is a collection of insects that I shot in the Bergisches Land of Germany. I’m not that familiar with insects so it is possible (in fact very likely) that I committed errors with their naming. Any corrections will be appreciated.

A Globe wanderer dragonfly (Pantala flavescens) that landed on my balcony and didn’t mind when I took multiple shots of her from close proximity. According to Wikipedia it can be found all around the globe but is quite rare in Europe and made its first appearance in Germany only in 2019.

A Migrant hawker (Aeshna mixta) in flight. These is one of the main dragonfly species that I see at our local pond. Its german name is Herbst-Mosaikjungfer which translates to Fall mosaic virgin, whatever the reason behind this name is:

A Western honey bee (Apis mellifera):

Not too sure if this is a Common wasp (Vespula vulgaris) or a German wasp (Vespula germanica). On another shot I could see one dot on its head. According to Wikipedia the German wasp should have three dots so I guess it is the Common wasp then:

A Polygonia c-album which I find is a strange name for a butterfly:

Another insect that I wasn’t able to identify. Some kind of predatory fly that is eating another insect:

An ant (Tetramorium noclueensis):

An insect identification website told me that this is a fruit fly (Drosophila sp.). However, is it? I shot this in our local forest and the fruit flies that I sometimes find in my kitchen during the fruit season are usually a lot smaller:

Readers’ wildlife photos

August 1, 2024 • 8:15 am

Today we have a collection of photos from several readers. All of their captions and IDs are indented, and you can click on the photos to enlarge them.

First, three from Martin Riddle:

I take lots of nature photos around the campus of Brooksby Village, a retirement community in Peabody,Ma.

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird  (Archilochus colubris):

Hummingbird hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum). [JAC: this is a great example of convergent evolution when taken together with hummingbirds]

American Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa virginiensis):

From Norm Gilinsky:

This is perhaps more of a conversation starter than an actual wildlife photo, but we found this seemingly unique sunflower in a field of sunflowers. This one is from a farm in Woodinville, Washington. It’s a cultivar of the Common Sunflower (Helianthus annuus).

What’s up with that? It’s a well-formed flower within the main flower. Since sunflowers are in the Asteraceae (Formerly the Compositae), it’s a composite within a composite. Strange and interesting:

From Simon Badderley:

Lin was walking down Democracy Street in our village when she saw this on the step of a derelict house in the middle of Ano Korakiana, Corfu.It’s a Giant Peacock Moth (Saturnia pyri), the largest moth in Europe, having a wingspan close to five and a half inches (140mm). It’s often thought to be a bat when flying at night. This is the female without the male’s feather-like antennae. The adult moth does not feed, but the caterpillar feeds on various deciduous trees including fruit trees and is regarded as a nuisance by fruit tree owners. These moths are active from March to late June. This one was almost inert, willing to be touched.

From Bryan Lepore:

 A photo of a green burgundy stink bug.  Wikipedia says it’s “Banasa dimidiata, the green burgundy stink bug, is a species of stink bug in the family Pentatomidae.”  Photo details: Taken in mid-Massachusetts: Middlesex county, July, 2024 – i.e. just a couple weeks ago. Mid-day, sunny, dry… on the recycle bin lid. iPhone 13 mini; enhanced photo:

And a lovely mountain from Larry Zelenak:

Not a wildlife photo, but maybe you can use it anyway, perhaps in a new series of best views from commercial plane flights.  This is Mt. Rainier on the morning of July 9 from an Alaska Airlines flight from SEA to RDU, taken with an older iPhone.

Wednesday: Readers’ wildlife

July 17, 2024 • 8:15 am

Well, this is about it, folks. This feature, which has been going daily for over a decade, is about to go extinct. It is sad because in general contributions and commenting (especially on science posts) seem to be waning, and an unread website is a dying website.

Fortunately, reader Damon Williford from Texas sent a photo contribution a few minutes ago!  His captions are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

Attached are a few photos of butterflies taken in May at a local park in Bay City, Texas.

Clouded Skipper (Lerema accius):

A pair of mating Clouded Skippers:

Fiery Skipper (Hylephila phyleus) feeding on nectar from lantana (Lantana spp.):

Tropical Checkered-skipper (Burnsius oileus):

Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia):

All photos were taken with a Canon EOS R7 and Canon f/5.6-8 IS USM. I used iNaturalist to identify the insects.

Readers’ wildlife photos (the last one?)

July 11, 2024 • 8:15 am

This is it, folks: I have no reserves of wildlife photos. If you have some good ones, you know what to do. Otherwise, I’ll post ’em as I get ’em.

Today we have a pastiche of photos from three readers. Readers’ commentary is indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.

The first contribution comes from Patrick May:

     A friend of mine is taking care of some orphaned Virginia opossums [Didelphis virginiana].  These nine are due to be released gradually into the wild in a couple of weeks. [Patrick says he’ll send photos of the release; which will take place in central Connecticut, where they were found. This will be in about a week.]

They’re sleeping in three groups of three (and seem to be smiling about it):

Since they’re growing, their favorite activity is eating:

From Sher Hendrickson, a former student of Greg Mayer:

This Daddy Long-legs (Harvestman) is just after molt, and appears to be eating its former “self”. I do believe it is Phalangium opilio.  The location is Boonsboro, MD, not too far from your old stomping grounds.  I thought it was eating the exoskeleton, but the legs are still hanging from where it was.  I suspect what I observed was the process it uses to get the remaining exoskeleton from its body and legs.

JAC: Note that harvestmen are often thought of as spiders, but they’re not. They’re probably more closely related to groups like horseshoe crabs or scorpions than to true spiders.

From Neil Jones, who is using his new camera and doing good work for conservation. The photo was taken at Caeau Ffos Fach (Little Ditch Fields) near Cross hands in South Wales.

This mating pair of Ringlet butterflies (Aphantopus hyperanthus) landed on my hand. It almost seems they knew I was a friend as I persuaded the British charity Butterfly Conservation to buy and preserve the site where they were flying.

Readers’ wildlife photos

July 10, 2024 • 8:45 am

I have about three batches left, so if you have wildlife photos, please send them in.

Today’s photos is the second installment of photos from Texas contributed by Damon Williford (part 1 is here).  Damon’s narrative and captions are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them. Here’s his introduction to the set.

I took these photos at Brazos Bend State Park on June 23 of this year. Brazos Bend State Park is located about 45 miles south of central Houston and 45 miles north of Bay City where I live. The park contains a variety of habitats, including prairie, woodlands, marshes, swamps, and lakes. The Brazos River forms the eastern boundary of the park.

Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus):

A juvenile American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) hanging out near a footbridge:

Blanchard’s Cricket Frog (Acris blanchardi):

A male Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis):

A Question Mark Butterfly (Polygonia interrogationis) feeding on a severed crayfish claw. I was aware that some species of butterflies will feed on carrion, but this was the first time I have personally observed it:

Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta):

Violet Ruellia (Ruellia nudiflora):

American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea):

American Lotus:

Water Hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes):

Mushrooms in the genus Chlorophyllum (maybe). That is the best I could do with the identification:

I used iNaturalist to help me identify the organisms in photos 14-22 because my ID skills become progressively worse as the list moves from amphibian (average) to plants (poor) to fungi (non-existent).

Camera information: I used a Canon EOS R7 mirrorless camera body for all photographs. I used the Canon RF800mm f/11 IS USM lens for photos 1-8, and the Canon RF100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM lens for the remaining photos.