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You lead a charmed life Guy - being handed lifers on a plate

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I don't know about charmed, Wurzel, but every little bit helps to make up for the cold weather we're having at the moment. A lot more snow has fallen since my last post and it has all gone very wintry.

I thought I'd investigate the Papiliorama near Bern today - a tropical butterfly house that stays open all year round. And I have to say, I found it difficult to drag myself away from it. They have an amazing number of species and although it is essentially a zoo the captives seemed very content. There were males and females of at least some species and some of the females were gravid, suggesting they were able to indulge in the full spectrum of behaviour - but I didn't actually see any mating. I did find 'wild' pupae and caterpillars in the enclosure too, so it had the feel of a productive place:





I don't think any of the troops of visitors going round noticed those! No one noticed this leaf, either, as they passed:


(Kallima paralekta)

It was genuinely enjoyable to see species I was familiar with from India and others I will probably never seen in the wild, including several species of Morpho, at least two species of Calligo, and loads of Heliconius. It seemed very strange to see natives of South America sharing habitat with Old World species - that jarred a little and is something I would avoid if I created my own butterfly house. But I separated them out in my mind.

Here are just a few of the butterflies, out of dozens of species photographed. My poor little compact struggled in the relatively dark interior of the dome but some of the pictures came out more or less OK. I've left Old World and New World species mixed up, to annoy you too!


(Idea leuconoe)


(Calligo atreus)


(Heliconius charithonia)


(Papilio rumanzovia)


(Parthenos sylvia)


(Junonia atlites - a butterfly I've seen in India but never managed to photograph the upperside of ...)


(Heliconius hecale)


(Papilio polytes with a friend I'm unsure about)

Feeding stations were scattered about:


(Morpho peleides, Hypolimnas bolina, Idea leuconoe)

Notably missing were Lycaenids - my favourite group of butterflies. It would have been nice to see some of the tropical Pierids too - the only Pierid flying today was Hebemoia glaucippe, a huge orange tip. Skippers would be too much to ask for ...

There were few moths, but they did include the obligatory Atlas moths. Here is the reptilian wingtip of one of these beasts:



There were a few species I couldn't identify - some of which I felt I ought to! If anyone would like to chip in with the identities of these butterflies I will be grateful and humiliated in equal measure:


(Mystery butt no. 1 - I never saw this one in flight, though I saw several altogether)


(Mystery butt no. 2 - just the one seen, clinging on to his life but obviously near the end of it)


(Mystery butt no. 3)

That last one looked much bluer when I used flash in a garish close-up shot, though to the naked eye it was more whitish:


(Mytery butt no. 3)

I'll work on the Papilio species myself - there's so much mimicry in this group they can be very difficult, especially when you don't know where they come from. At least two morphs of Papilio dardanus were flying and probably more than two morphs of Papilio polytes, in addition to males of that species. I first saw polytes in the cemetery where my grandfather lies, in Kolkata, and photographed it flitting restlessly around flowers in city parks there. It was behaving in exactly the same way in the Papiliorama - tiptoeing on the flowers, never resting anywhere - lovely to watch.

Guy

Hi Guy,

The "friend" looks like Papilio lowi (Great Yellow Mormon). Mystery butterfly #1 looks like Amathusia binghami. Not sure about #2, and #3 looks like a Danaid but, again, not sure of species.

[EDIT] #2 Could be Vindula arsinoe (Cruiser)

Cheers,

- Pete

Thanks Pete! Amathusia binghami is brilliant - it's certainly Amathusia sp. and quite probably this one. I'd completely forgotten about that group.

Papilio lowi looks good for the swallowtail friend but that pattern is quite widespread so I'll check it carefully - unless you know that is a species commonly found in butterfly houses. I know it doesn't really matter, but when it comes to butterflies I'm a little obsessive - and I suspect you are too, Pete!

Guy

Pete Eeles wrote:[EDIT] #2 Could be Vindula arsinoe (Cruiser)

Just seen this, Pete - I don't know when you made the edit. Yes - definitely Vindula. Thank you! I'm inclined to go for V. erota, but stand ready to be corrected.

I last visited a butterfly house probably in 1987 (at Blenheim, when I was a student). Then, tropical species meant nothing to me and it was a bit like visiting an ornamental flower garden - give me 'weeds' any day. Since then I've met these butterflies in their natural habitats and it has all become much more real. If I meet Vindula sp. on my next trip to India I will instantly recognise it!

Guy

padfield wrote:when it comes to butterflies I'm a little obsessive - and I suspect you are too, Pete!

Just a little bit

That last one has me stumped!

Cheers,

- Pete

Some lovely shots there, Guy. I agree with you about Lycaenids & Skippers. These tropical houses seem to always concentrate on the same species. Much of what you saw is the same as what's in my 'local' butterfly house near Monmouth.

With zero experience of tropical butterflies I have looked online and wondered if it may be of the 'Danaus' family?

Flutter on!

CJB

I will upgrade that to a 'Blue Tiger' Danaus Chrysippus.
Flutter on!
CJB

Found it! (I think!): #3:

Euxanthe eurinome (Common Forest Queen) or Euxanthe wakefieldi.

Cheers,

- Pete

I have to concede Pete, that you have found it!
Flutter on!
CJB

Brilliant - thank you both!

I, too, was misled by the spots into assuming this was in the Danainae (counting legs tells you it has to be in some part of the Nymphalidae) and wasted a lot of time looking there. Euxanthe is in the Charaxinae - so closer to the two-tailed pasha than to any of the tigers. Presumably the spots are mimicry, as the Danainae are typically poisonous.

I feel much better now!

Guy

Hi Guy,

An interesting post and one that has re-wetted my appetite ...

Pete Eeles wrote:The "friend" looks like Papilio lowi (Great Yellow Mormon)

I agree with Pete on this, though the group can be difficult due to the likelihood that all subspecies, forms and variations will interbreed, especially in captivity. Papilio lowii is a regular in British butterfly houses. Your image shows the male.

The following may shed some light:

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=5432&start=240#p55840

Kind regards. Mark

Thanks Mark. I appreciate the confirmation of lowi, though I feel an indication of provenance is necessary to be sure of the identity of some of these captive butterflies. Papilio memnon is extremely variable, with tailless and tailed morphs in both sexes - in India alone there are four male morphs and nine female morphs. I'll label it lowi for the time being.

I will undoubtedly be going back several times over the winter, as both the travel and entry will cost me nothing (a year's pass for the Papiliorama cost CHF 50, which I thought was quite reasonable, and I have a universal rail pass). My present work consists of thinking and writing, which I can do perfectly easily on the train. When I need a change of air I'll just pop off to Bern and see what new species have emerged!

Guy

I've no idea where she comes from, but every year Mrs Betulae gets busy on my local patch of blackthorn - a tiny thicket in the middle of a cowfield. I don't believe it can sustain a colony and there's no other blackthorn I can find for miles around, but somehow those eggs always appear, as if Santa brought them. In a few minutes I found seven today. They're well placed for watching the larvae grow, except that last year the cows tore off the branch where the one larva I found lived and I fear the same might happen again this year.







This is also the patch I released my female black hairstreak on, after I found her by the side of the road. When the leaves have fallen I'll look carefully to see if she laid any eggs - but I don't think she was gravid when I found her, unfortunately.

Guy

padfield wrote:..except that last year the cows tore off the branch where the one larva I found lived and I fear the same might happen again this year.

Have you ever reared betulae from ovum to imago before, Guy?

David M wrote:Have you ever reared betulae from ovum to imago before, Guy?

Not yet, David. If I were going to try that I would have to prepare in advance, growing blackthorn on my balcony, say, and making sure it was fully rooted and healthy before collecting any early stages. But I like the challenge of finding and watching them in the wild and don't think I'll take up breeding any time soon.

Guy

padfield wrote:My poor little compact struggled in the relatively dark interior of the dome but some of the pictures came out more or less OK.

I'd say rather better than "OK". 'Poor little compacts' are now technological marvels and I find myself using mine more and more - and enjoying being free of several kg of SLR kit!

Like you, I enjoy opportunities to see species from my various travels, including India and the Far East, though I know few New World species, so perhaps the juxtapositions don't irritate me too much - they do, somehow, look 'different', though.

Mike

padfield wrote:

David M wrote:Have you ever reared betulae from ovum to imago before, Guy?

Not yet, David. If I were going to try that I would have to prepare in advance, growing blackthorn on my balcony, say, and making sure it was fully rooted and healthy before collecting any early stages. But I like the challenge of finding and watching them in the wild and don't think I'll take up breeding any time soon.

Guy

this thread spurred me into locating my copy of Butterfly Culture by Stone & Midwinter which was a great assist when i reared a few UK species back in my early 20s - much to the dismay of my new wife!
Needless to say she got over it (!) and we celebrate our 33rd anniversary this Friday.

Glad to have inspired you, Man from Kent! And as ever, thanks for the encouragement, Mike.

After what feels like weeks of cold, it was properly warm today and the butterflies put on quite a show in the Valley.

No one who follows my thread will be surprised to know there were plenty of Queens of Spain about:



This dark green fritillary was more unexpected:



Graylings were in evidence but on their last legs:





Here's a tree grayling, also, unusually, sunbathing wings akimbo:



In the mid-afternoon, tree graylings were gathering on the remains of the vendange:



Here are first a Chapman's blue, then a common blue, showing how easily they can be told apart by the androconial patch (or lack of it) when they are fresh:





Adonis blues and chalkhill blues are also still around in numbers ...





... as well as a few northern brown arguses and small coppers:





All the hibernators were safely tucked up in bed. There were no skippers and no swallowtails or Apollos. Small whites, green-veined whites, Berger's pale clouded yellows and clouded yellows represented the Pieridae and walls and speckled woods were also quite common. Here's an autumnal speckled wood, territorially defending his spot:



Guy