Butterflies. Secret Life

BUTTERFLIES Secret life

roger vila · rena ortega

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© illustrations, Rena Ortega 2021 © Mosquito Books Barcelona, SL 2021 Translation: © Paula Meiss, 2021

Mosquito Books Barcelona, SL C/ Església 4-10, Local 2D 08024 Barcelona info@mosquitobooksbarcelona.com DL GI xx-xxx

No animals were harmed in the making of this book, but a few were bribed into helping out.

BUTTERFLIES Secret life

rena ortega • roger vila

! " # $ % & ' "

Uropyia meticulodina Imita una hoja seca en 3D, aunque sólo es un efecto óptico del patrón de coloración. Tamaño 5cm.

Hamadryas Se para en los troncos, a poca altura, con las alas abiertas i mirando siempre en dirección al suelo, nunca para arriba. Tamaño 7 cm

Oruga Geometridae Imita una ramita de árbol. Hay miles de especies parecidas. La de la foto es de las más grandes y mide unos 4 o 5 cm. También hay muchas especies verdes, sobre ramitas verdes. A diferencia de las demás orugas, sólo tienen dos pares de pseudopodos (falsas patas) cerca de la cola con las que se aguantan. Pueden ponerse totalmente rectas y esconder las patas de delante.

Satyrinae A Hay muchas especies (cientos) que imitan un fondo marrón de hojas, tierra o piedras. También hay listadas que imitan hierba. El ejemplo que pongo es de las más grandes. 9cm. 4 patas.

Polygonia c-album Imita una hoja de roble.

Puede esconder las antenas. 4 patas. 5cm.

MASTERS OF CAMOUFLAGE Let's hide! Predators eat the butterflies they discover, so only those that most closely resemble their environment survive and, after millions of years of selection and evolution... there are species that are true masters of camouflage!

How do they do it? If you pay attention, it's not only the colour that is discreet, the key is in the position that each species adopts in order to imitate a trunk, a leaf, lichen...

Kallima Siempre plegada, imitando una hoja. Suele pararse en troncos mirando hacia el suelo o entre la hojarasca. Solo se ven 4 patas, antenas muy juntas y casi no se ven. Variedad de especies con patrones de hojas diferentes. Tamaño 8 cm.

Oruga Euthalia Geometridae B Sobre una hoja.

Siempre con las alas bien abiertas y planas, con simetría perfecta. Suelen ser de alrededor de 3 cm, pero varía mucho en función de la especie.

Siempre en hojas i situada en el nervio central, que imita con la línea clara del cuerpo. 3cm

Cithaerias pireta Alas transparentes, siempre en selvas tropicales con poca luz, con las alas plegadas.

4 patas sólo. 7 cm

HIDE AND SEEK: CAN YOU SEE ME? On this page there are X butterflies, X moths and X caterpillars hidden.

The gecko has already found one!

Can you find all the others?

Find the answer on page X.

DISGUISES FOR SURVIVAL Not all butterflies hide to avoid being eaten. Some species disguise themselves as dangerous animals, so they look like poisonous snakes, wasps or owls with huge eyes. No predator will dare to come near! (did you know that...) Mimicry: the tactic of imitating another species in order not to be eaten. Usually, the patterns of a toxic or very bad tasting butterfly are copied, which the birds have learned not to eat.

Automeris io Many butterflies have circular spots on their wings that look like owl eyes and terrify small predators. Mice, birds and lizards run away! (did you know that...)

Ocelos: circular spots on the wings of butterflies that mimic eyes.

Caligo This is the owl butterfly, can you guess why this name?

The circular spots on its wings look like owl eyes and terrify small predators.

Mice, birds and lizards run away! Size: it is a very large butterfly, about 14 cm.

Blue jay This bird is a blue jay and loves to eat butterflies and caterpillars... but all the butterflies around them are protected by their disguises.

Biologists, in order to investigate how the shapes and colours of butterflies deceive predators, conduct experiments with domesticated birds.

Hemeroplanes triptolemus The caterpillar of this large moth almost perfectly mimics a poisonous snake. To achieve this, when it feels threatened, it hangs down showing its belly, only holding on by its false hind legs. Its head swells rapidly and a dangerous snake appears, staring at us with its glowing eyes.

Sesia apiformis A wasp? No, it's a butterfly! The yellow and black bands on its body and the elongated, transparent wings make it an almost perfect copy of a painfully stinging wasp. Who dares to touch it?

r and s, glitte r u o l o c hey ings. T e dots, v w The a ir h e s h t ks of ie ack of utter fl e attac b b h t y e t n h t c a e n M en. and dir s easily brok move o t n a io h t t n s i e tail re hich ct att wings a part, w o attra t s ir i e e h t v h t r s e if d s war h eyes , even tors to scape ad, wit e e h n preda t a c c y ke inse ay the er fly? ee a fa is butt That w s h t u f o o y . Do e b a ck broken , on th e a n n te and an clinae

Some young caterpillars mimic foul bird droppings. Placed on the leaves, nobody wants to touch them... let alone eat them!

THROUGH A MAGNIFYING GLASS What does a butterfly look like up close? Like all insects, they have six legs, although the first two can be very small in some species. They also have four wings, and their body is divided into a head, thorax and abdomen.

Costa Base Ojos simples

Margen externo Antenas

Celda Ángulo anal

Margen interno

Ojos compuestos

Palpos labiales

PROBOSCIS Their tube-shaped, coiled mouth is called a proboscis and is used to drink the nectar of flowers.

Wings

Antennae

Proboscis

Thorax

Alas posteriores

Legs Abdomen

THE SUPERPOWERS OF BUTTERFLIES Did you know butterflies have superpowers?

In addition to what we see, they can capture ultraviolet light, so they perceive more colours than we do. For example, they see a wider rainbow, with more colours following blue, that we just can't see.

The antennae of butterflies are of three main types: Day butterflies have straight antennae with a thickening at the tip. Most nocturnal species have thread-thin antennae.

The males of some moths have feather-like antennae, which they use to detect the scent of female specimens at night.

POLILLA HEMBRA Antena filiforme

POLILLA MACHO Antena plumosa

MARIPOSA DIURNA Antena con grosor en la punta

A sí

ve la

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an hum n u or

The flowers that we see as plain white or yellow have spots and patterns that butterflies perceive. Thus, each species only visits the flowers of the type it likes best.

A butterfly would find it very boring to see like humans do.

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ariposa

thus sure and s e r p ir my. ea e or stor n feel th n a fi c e y b e l h T ther wil field. the wea agnetic m e th know if l e d can y can fe rth is an o n e r And the e ow wh ations. , they kn eir migr th g in r This way u better d navigate

res r colo e v n rmite mo s . le s p e s o j no ve o s o r t S us oso que n

They also have an incredible sense of smell.

They have noses scattered all over their bodies: on their antennae, on their legs, on the tip of their abdomen...

This way they can smell plants and know if they are the best places to lay their eggs. Smell also helps them find a mate of their own species to breed with.

1

4

5

3 6

CLASSIFICATION OF BUTTERFLIES 1. Zerene cesonia (N. América)

2. Urania ripheus (Madagascar) 3. Lysandra bellargus (Europa) 5. Amata alicia (África) 6. Cymothoe sangaris (África)

4. Actias maenas (Arsia)

7

8

10

9

11

12

7. Cithaerias auroria (S. América) 8. Ornithoptera aesacus (Indonesia) 9. Acherontiaatropos (Europa y `África) 10. Heliconius meipomene (C. y N. América) 11. Rhetus arcius (S. América) 12. Cyrestisthyodamas (Asia)

Thysania agrippina América del Sur 32 cm

BUTTERFLY RECORDS The world's largest butterfly is the Ornithoptera alexandrae, from Papua New Guinea. Females, which are larger than males, measure 28cm. Since they look like birds when they fly, their scientific name means “bird wings”.

The largest moth is the South American Thysania agrippina, which grows up to 32cm, even though other species can weigh more.

Ornithoptera Alexandrae PapúaNueva Guinea 28 cm

Micropsyche Ariana Afganistán 20 mm

The smallest butterfly species is Micropsyche ariana, a very rare species from Afghanistan, measuring about 20mm.

Family Nepticulidae 0,3 cm

2 cm

The smallest moths are those of the family Nepticulidae, which are tiny.

The smallest ones are less than 3mm! You need a magnifying glass to see them.

THE FASTEST The fastest flying butterflies are the Hesperiidae, and the fastest moths are the Sphingidae. They both fly at speeds of 60 km/h, almost as fast as a horse.

100 km/h 60 km/h

¡Ni el atleta más veloz del mundo podría atraparlas!

44,72 km/h

THE MOST FLYING The longest migration is that of the Vanessa cardui or painted lady. Every year millions of butterflies travel from tropical Africa to the Arctic Circle... and then back, on a 12,000 km circuit.

They breed and die along the way and the whole journey is completed by six to ten generations.

But a single butterfly can also fly a long way in its short life: with the help of the wind, it can fly up to 4,000 km.

Arctic Polar Circle

EUROPE

AFRICA 20 cm

32 cm

A LOVE STORY Adult butterflies and moths live just for a few weeks and their mission is to reproduce.

In that short time, they have many children, sometimes hundreds!

The first step is to find a partner of the same species, and with so many different species this is not easy.

Male butterflies use colours to locate a potential mate and then it is the female who decides, usually by using her antennae to smell the male's scent and determine if the species is right. Some species have mating rituals that resemble dancing, in the air or on land.

Todas las mariposas se aparean unidas por el extremo de su abdomen, mirando cada una hacia un lado diferente, y pueden permanecer así durante horas. Normalmente están quietas, pero si te acercas demasiado y se asustan, verás que muchas especies pueden volar mientras se aparean

AT...

H T W U KN O O f um e s Y D th e p e r DI e r a e s als to he anim on e s: t d ot h e r n a P h e ro m s ie r tn e r s . r fl heir pa y b ut te t b r d e e u s q u n an d c o a t t ra c t

But how do moths find mates at night? Males have featherlike antennae that can detect the scent of females even from a kilometre away. Each species has a different smell, so the night is full of perfumes that we cannot perceive.