This time of year there is a fun abundance of moths and insects flying around at night, and often hanging on buildings during the day. One such popular moth in our region is the luna moth (Actias luna). Luna moths are the charismatic megafauna of the moth world. They're big and flashy and easy to spot, as well as being quite harmless. In honor of these beauties, and the summer nights, here are ten interesting facts about luna moths.
Introducing the Butterfly Proboscis (Snoot, Sippy Straw & Sponge)
Butterfly tongue (Flicker Sharing: Thomas Quine)
How Butterflies Get Their Fluids
I think I have a form of nature attention deficit disorder because I get so easily distracted by anything in the natural world. In meetings I'm focusing on the sparrows outside my window and and analyzing their flock structure. At restaurants I'm looking at moths flying around lights and trying to identify them. I can't help it, it's what I do. Thus, while sitting on a dock watching the sunrise I noticed a butterfly probing a fairly fresh pile of scat that the morning's inhabitants had left. It sat there for a long time, probing with its long tongue and "dung sipping" (yes, there is a term called "dung sipping" that scientists use, makes for a great insult to other entomologists). Butterflies also can be found sipping carcasses and dead things too (so much for a butterfly's beauty eh?.."corpse sipper" anyone?). Here's a picture of what I observed:
Swallowtail butterfly drinking from dung (Photo: K. McDonald).
Most people that I meet think that when a butterfly visits a flower that it's using its tongue to sip nectar. This is what happens, but the butterfly's tongue is more like a combination sponge and sippy straw instead of just a straw. Let's start with the correct sciency terms for you to stash for future garden parties.....
Monarchs in Pacific Grove California (Photo: Wiki Commons).
Do They Really Travel That Far?
Right now, Autumn, is the time of Monarch Butterfly migration. You can see monarchs languidly gliding on the cool fall air against a backdrop of colorful leaves and scattered pumpkins. When I lived along the coasts of Delaware I loved to see the monarchs cross the dunes on fall winds. This brings me to one of the most common misconceptions about monarch migration, which is that it's one butterfly that makes the entire trip North and South for migration.
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