can butterflies hear?

[KeynvorLogosenn]

Hi all,

I am wondering, I went to down to my local field this morning, and there were some workmen building a new scout hut near by. Now I noticed it got very noisey and the butterflies wouldn't settle. Not for long anyway. Was it the noise that was scaring them?
Now also I could feel the vibrations through the ground, and feel infra sound (below our hearing) from the machines, is this what was scaring them?
It made me feel nervous as well, and I could feel pressure changes to closer or further away I was etc. Not even I could stand still.
How do butterflies hear?

I came across these two, but it was noisey so I couldn't ID them.

comma.jpg (195.99 KiB) Viewed 1267 times

Comma?

small tort.jpg (186.13 KiB) Viewed 1266 times

And I think a Small Tort

Thanks
Mouse

[Padfield]

Butterflies certainly can hear - and some are very sensitive to noise, as anyone who has tried to photograph certain Satyrids close up will attest! They fly off at the sound of the auto-focus.

It's not only Satyrids, though. Once, I was watching a male zephyr blue taking minerals while my dog was some metres away, at the water's edge, trying to get me to throw a stick for her. She was barking every few seconds to get my attention and every time she barked, apparently with no delay at all, the blue flashed its wings open momently. I wish I had videoed it - the synchronisation of bark and blue flash was perfect.

Guy

PS - your IDs are absolutely right.

[KeynvorLogosenn]

Thanks Guy, I thought I had it right!

That's amazing! But why would it open its wings and not just fly away?

Talking of perfect synchronisation, when I was in Iceland, there were small earthquakes and loads of earth tremmers. Especially in Hveragerdi and when we were in Selfoss. As soon as I felt the loud noise and rumble beneath my feet, I would leap high in the air with shock because I am so sensitive to these things. No one else was affected! It was named the earthquake dance, when I jumped, every put there hands on the ground to feel it intsantly. Perfect synchronisation!
Are butterflies sensitive to these 'infra sound' noises, they must feel it through the plants?

Mouse

[Dave McCormick]

Butterflies can hear, and are sensitave to light, like those of a flash on a camera. I think butterflies react to the changing light and as you get close you can block out the light with your shadow or whatever and the butterfly will fly off. Some butterflies have organs of hearing though. Also, butterflies can sense vibrations I think through special hairs on their body or something like that.

I noticed that with some butterflies feeding on buddliah, I went upt ot a small tortoiseshell feeding on one in our garden and flicked my fingers at it, and its wings just flinched open and shut instead of flying off. Think it was too busy feeding to really be bothered with anything, maybe anyway.

This butterfly I used a flash on and as soon as I did, the meadow brown closed its wings:

Wings Open used flash, but it was just after it flicked its wings open



Just as soon as I used Flash again:



Guy, tha zephyr blue story is quite interesting.

[KeynvorLogosenn]

Cheers Dave, I will bare that in mind next time I am out photographing Butterflies, which will be now in fact!
I thought there was sensitive to vibrations, because they wouldn't settle. Nor would I!

See Ya!

Mouse

[Keith Woonton]

Very nice photos as always Emily.

This is a very interesting topic that poses the question what senses do butterflies have?

If anything written below is incorrect, these comments are only what I have come to believe and are not intended as to be quoted as scientific fact. Please put me right anywhere where I am in error, as this site seems to me to be as much about educating any of us who have an interest in the subject, as it is about the joy of sharing with others what we see and observe.

Sight, yes obviously.

Taste, I seem to remember reading yes ( Through there feet )

Smell, well I believe that they use pheromones as a means of sexual / species identification. The antennas I believe are the organ used for this, but dose it double as a scent organ to locate their proffered nectar sources and to find the correct food plants on which to lay their eggs? Probably.

Feeling / touch, well I recently watched a male Speckled Wood nudging and head butting a female in order to try and get her interested in him. Also without doubt they feel hot and cold so I guess that’s another yes.

Hearing, well reading the above one would say yes. Human hearing, after all, is picked up by vibrations in the air, which are deciphered by the fine membrane of the eardrum vibrating fine hair like structures within the inner ear ( Please correct me if I’m wrong as I an no medical expert. ) But I am also led to believe that def people can also hear, after a fashion, by feeling vibrations. If you have ever stood in front of large loud speakers in a nightclub you can literally feel the sound passing through your body. Fish most defiantly feel vibrations through their lateral line along the side of their bodies. Is it the same for butterflies, feeling the vibrations in the air passing through their bodies or vibrating the hairs on their bodies thus allowing them to “hear”. Also, is it possible that the antennae may play some part in picking up sound vibrations or the direction from which a sound originated e.g. if the sound hits the left antenna first, the sound came from the left. I would think the question of sound direction could be answered by a few simple controlled experiments, if a loud noise is made on the left do they generally fly off to the right. Or perhaps all these questions have already been answered.

Do butterflies have other senses of which we are unaware? Birds and bees are both able to navigate over distance to find their nesting grounds or their way back to a beehive. If I am correct, Monarch butterflies over generations are able to locate a small area of master trees in Mexico, which they nay not have been to for more than one generation.
Is it possible that there are senses yet to be discovered of which we humans are totally oblivious. Now there’s a question to think about.

Keith.

[KeynvorLogosenn]

Thanks Keith
It certainly sounds logical, people say I have a 'sixth sense' because I notice visual things when I shouldn't. And I can feel sound waves, like infra sound. If you go on the london underground. Infra levels are equalevent to that of a rave!

Is it possible for them to sense infra and ultra sounds where as we dont hear them

Mouse

[eccles]

I believe a lot of 'hearing' that a butterfly senses is through its antennae. Moths are incredibly sensitive to ultrasound, and their antennae are often much more complex than those of butterflies, which I would guess is for that reason. There is evolutionary advantage for moths to have this ability when so many of them are night creatures and get hunted by bats.
I experienced an unusual phenomenon earlier this summer. Having bought a second DSLR body, an A700, this spring I found that marbled white butterflies were especially sensitive to that camera's mirror slap or shutter. As a result, I got shot after shot of butterflies taking off but very few with them at rest. It is actually much quieter than my other camera, the earlier A100, but have been able to use that camera without problem. THAT model however was hated by silver Y moths.

[Dave McCormick]

I think the reason moths have the antennae the way they do (Males have a furry or feathery one) and I know with emperor moths, the male uses his to detect the scent of a female which can be up to six miles away. The males feathery antennae is used to detect pheramones of the female. The female does not need to do this so has thin antennae.

I think its hairs on some butterflies (you can see them on small tortoiseshells better) that are used to feel vibrations or something like that and I think this is what is used for the peacock butterflies to produce the hissing sounds you hear when they flick their wings, to scare of predators

with butterflies sight, they don't see things like we do, they can see the UV spectrum we cannot which makes them go for certian plants more than others as some plants like certian purple ones give of more UV light than some other plants.

I got this quote from Adrain Hoskins site http://www.learnaboutbutterflies.com/St ... ue%202.htm

Some butterflies can detect sound, using "ears" on the underside of their wings. These microscopic funnel-shaped ears are covered with a very thin membrane that vibrates in response to high frequency sound. The ear is only present in certain butterfly families. Some scientists believe that all early butterflies were nocturnal, and that the ears evolved to enable them to detect and avoid predatory bats. Other butterfly families which do not possess ears are thought to have evolved daytime flight as an alternative anti-bat strategy.

a good exmlination of how some butterflies hear anyway

[Cotswold Cockney]

One thing is certain, when a female Apatura iris (Purple Emperor) prior to egg laying, 'tests' the leaf it does so with those two leading 'false' legs by scratching the leaf surface several times with them. In the breeding cage, this actually makes quite a noticeable scratching sound. Loud enough to catch my attention and follow up with visual confirmation of the relatively noisey process ~ always an indicator that a female is preparing to lay. The taught, healthy growing leaf almost like a miniture drum skin with the sound effect. Never gave it a second thought until reading this thread.

Probably has to sound 'right' as well as 'taste' right....... maybe.

Nymphalidae ~ brush footed butterflies ?? ..... Bom~ba~bom~tish ! Not just drum sticks ~ brushes too ....
...

[Keith Woonton]

Well having read the responses made to this question “Can butterflies hear” posed by Emily and responded to by Guy, Eccles, Dave McCormick, and Cotswold Cockney it would seem the one thing I was completely right about was when I said

as this site seems to me to be as much about educating any of us who have an interest in the subject, as it is about the joy of sharing with others what we see and observe.

I have learnt more in the few minutes it has taken to read these few postings than in a lifetime of my own observations. Thank you all and thank you U K Butt’s.

[KeynvorLogosenn]

Well said Keith

Me too, I have leant so much that wouldn't be tangible to me otherwise. For example a common blue can look brown! I would have had no idea unless some one told me!

Mouse

[Padfield]

I fully agree with you, Keith. The cumulative knowledge of contributors to this site is quite daunting.

Speaking of which, Adrian Hoskins has some good information on many butterfly organs here:

http://www.learnaboutbutterflies.com/Anatomy.htm

For details of the ears some butterflies possess, look at the section on the wings...

Guy

[KeynvorLogosenn]

Thanks Guy
The website is great, I guess the pictures are as well

I already knew that butterflies see using the UV part of the EM spectrum where as we use the visable part. So using my physics knowledge, white would look dull because it absorbes UV (right?), where as orange and yellow are great reflectors so would be bright blue/violet/purple to them. I am not sure about other colours, I am not great with colours anymore. So I guess wearing white would be great camo!

Maybe this should turn into how do butterflies see?
Birds use UV too! (i belive)

Mouse

[Padfield]

You can't tell whether a surface reflects or absorbs UV light simply by looking at the reflected light in the visual spectrum - something that appears white to us reflects all wavelengths in the visual spectrum but may or may not reflect UV. This means some species that look the same to us look quite different to butterflies - a case in point is the various brimstone species.

Guy

[KeynvorLogosenn]

okay cheers Guy, I find that hard to understand, as I said, I dont understand colours very well Actually the only colour I can get right is purple because that is the colour of my room

Mouse

[Padfield]

Purple's a good colour!

There's some information on the UV patterns in brimstone (Gonepteryx) and Clouded yellow (Colias) species here:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg1 ... iolet.html

If you browse around on the internet you'll find plenty more!

Guy

[KeynvorLogosenn]

Cheers Guy, That's a great article there.

Yeah, nothing 'catches my eye' unless it is purple since I lost my colour recignition as well! Its the only colour that stands out, and when I need to work out other colours, I take a purple something with me and look at the contrast. 10% of the time I am right, oh well.

I am dawing a green hairstreak at the moment, I can't tell the difference between green and red, they look the same! so a red hairstreak maybe?

Mouse