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On 15th July in Broxbourne Woods, I noticed a pair or white butterflies engaged in courtship on the ground a few yards away, so I moved closer to investigate. One flew off as I approached, and I realised that it had been trying to mate with a scrap of paper blowing in the breeze. Except it hadn't.



This poor male had had a close encounter with some kind of predator, which had left it with just one wing and half its body, its abdomen having been entirely removed. It was so helpless that with every puff of wind it was flipped over.

Yet it still had enough life left to crawl and to flap its remaining wing. This seemed to have been enough to tempt another individual to try to mate with it.

I don't know what the predator was or why it didn't finish its meal, given that its prey was in no fit state to escape. There were fair numbers of dragonflies around, but no birds that I saw.

Suffice it to say that this individual was no longer alive when I left.

Paul

Nice image and gruesome observation (especially the one trying to mate with the others half body), suppose it could have been a dragonfly (could have ripped it when trying to catch it in flight and only got half of it?), wouldn't be a spider as they wrap them up or take prey away. Whatever the cause, its not something you often see but well observed.

Pawpawsaurus wrote:This poor male ....... still had enough life left to crawl and to flap its remaining wing. This seemed to have been enough to tempt another individual to try to mate with it.

The butterfly that attempted to mate with it was another male (I assume females don't hunt down males). If that was the case was the butterfly so badly damaged that the newcomer couldn't identify it as a male Or is it that the the drive to mate is so strong that males will check out everything Any views please

Philzoid wrote:

Pawpawsaurus wrote:This poor male ....... still had enough life left to crawl and to flap its remaining wing. This seemed to have been enough to tempt another individual to try to mate with it.

The butterfly that attempted to mate with it was another male (I assume females don't hunt down males). If that was the case was the butterfly so badly damaged that the newcomer couldn't identify it as a male Or is it that the the drive to mate is so strong that males will check out everything Any views please

With the two spots, that one that is only half a butterfly looks like a female to me

Dave McCormick wrote:With the two spots, that one that is only half a butterfly looks like a female to me

Hi Dave,

That's an underside shot. Don't forget the male (and female for that matter) has a twin-spotted underside to the forewing.

Kind regards. Mark

Philzoid wrote:The butterfly that attempted to mate with it was another male (I assume females don't hunt down males). If that was the case was the butterfly so badly damaged that the newcomer couldn't identify it as a male Or is it that the the drive to mate is so strong that males will check out everything Any views please

By the time I realised that this was a butterfly the would-be suitor was long gone. So although I assume the intact butterfly was male, I don't know for sure.

On reflection, I should have held back and watched them from a distance. It would have been interesting to see how far the relationship went, but until I'd got closer I didn't realise that anything unusual was happening.

Mark Colvin wrote:

Dave McCormick wrote:With the two spots, that one that is only half a butterfly looks like a female to me

That's an underside shot. Don't forget the male (and female for that matter) has a twin-spotted underside to the forewing.

Yes, the upperside of the wing had no spots. I could upload a photo if you really want me to ...

Paul

A couple of years ago, when I was releasing a number of captive-bred Peacocks, a wasp began systematically attacking the new butterflies. All it did was to sever the head from the body of each one it attacked, before moving on to the next. Utterly vicious and apparently pointless.

Dave

Thanks for the info, wasn't too sure if it was female, still that is odd.

millerd wrote:A couple of years ago, when I was releasing a number of captive-bred Peacocks, a wasp began systematically attacking the new butterflies. All it did was to sever the head from the body of each one it attacked, before moving on to the next. Utterly vicious and apparently pointless.

Dave

I have noticed that hornets do that, they take the head of and suck out the innards, but not sure why these didn't do anything after taking the head off.