Came accross this on the BBC news website this morning:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/13573037
Cheers
Lee
Butterfly Wing Closing
- Lee Hurrell
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Butterfly Wing Closing
To butterfly meadows, chalk downlands and leafy glades; to summers eternal.
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Re: Butterfly Wing Closing
But Pierids open the wings to reject males - allowing photographs of the uppersides of clouded yellow species, for example.
This is a very bad video, that I wouldn't have linked to were it not for this post, but here is a female black-veined white rejecting a male:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL7BYfTHET4[/video]
She is holding her wings rigidly flat and pushing her abdomen at the male.
Guy
EDIT : A still from the same encounter:
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2011/crataegi114.jpg)
This is a very bad video, that I wouldn't have linked to were it not for this post, but here is a female black-veined white rejecting a male:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL7BYfTHET4[/video]
She is holding her wings rigidly flat and pushing her abdomen at the male.
Guy
EDIT : A still from the same encounter:
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2011/crataegi114.jpg)
Guy's Butterflies: https://www.guypadfield.com
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
The Butterflies of Villars-Gryon : https://www.guypadfield.com/villarsgryonbook.html
- Lee Hurrell
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- Posts: 2423
- Joined: Mon May 25, 2009 7:33 pm
- Location: Hampshire
Re: Butterfly Wing Closing
The headline doesn't fit for all species does it.
As the study was centered on one species, maybe it should have been 'Small Coppers close wings to avoid sex' but then the BBC might have received complaints from vertically challenged police officers....
Cheers
Lee
As the study was centered on one species, maybe it should have been 'Small Coppers close wings to avoid sex' but then the BBC might have received complaints from vertically challenged police officers....
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
Cheers
Lee
To butterfly meadows, chalk downlands and leafy glades; to summers eternal.