www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I wonder if any one can tell me what this red Admiral is doing with her front leg. This happened in a split second and I have caught it on camera. The frame before has the same time and the leg is perfectly still and resting slightly back on the flower

Don't know for sure, but I read somewhere that butterflies smell with their feet, so it may have an olfactory twist to it.

Thanks for looking.
I do have a video of one of these twisting and turning it's antennae like as if it is cleaning them . Most strange

Interesting, I have seen flies and other insects doing the same thing.

Thanks for looking.
Like I said I have seen these butterflies twiddling their antenna in one of my videos but that twirling is as you say interesting and as David M says they do smell & taste sugar with their feet . Perhaps she thought this tasted bad

This was the fly doing a similar trick

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13372714@N ... otostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13372714@N ... otostream/

Lol. Insect have a funny side to them . I had to chuckle at those two. TFS.

It was doing it about five minutes if I remember correctly. It almost reminds me of one of the conductors of the local brass band

Chocky wrote:I wonder if any one can tell me what this red Admiral is doing with her front leg. This happened in a split second and I have caught it on camera. The frame before has the same time and the leg is perfectly still and resting slightly back on the flower

The hokey cokey.

Not so sure about that but here is a video of a Red Admiral doing the most peculiar things with his antennae as if he is cleaning them

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In3lPMg4njI[/video]

I've seen something similar when a bit of spider silk has got caught on a leg and the butterfly has tried to shake it off.

Dave

Yes, You could be right Dave. I did wonder as there are some spider like web strands floating about.

Chocky wrote:Not so sure about that but here is a video of a Red Admiral doing the most peculiar things with his antennae as if he is cleaning them

I had a look with the clip on full size and I think he might be cleaning his mouthparts or eyes rather than antennae?