Monthly Archives: June 2022

A quick drink

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A gulf fritillary butterfly drinking from a porterweed.

The proboscis, or what is referred as the butterfly’s straw, is a very important part of its digestive system, as it begins at the very tip. The strong muscles in the butterfly’s head will stretch its first part of the esophagus to sip the nectar from the flower, according to the book “Florida Butterfly Gardening.” The butterfly’s salivary glands will add enzymes, which begin the digestion once the nectar enters the butterfly’s head. The process continues as the nectar is stored in “the crop,” or a sac, in the abdomen once it passes through the thorax. It then moves into the butterfly’s “midgut” where the majority of absorption and digestion takes place before continuing onto the hindgut. The process continues as the hindgut is responsible for getting rid of nitrogen wastes, and excess salts. Uric acid is dumped into the gut to discharge feces, which is in liquid form, at the tip of the abdomen, according to the book “Florida Butterfly Gardening.”

Meet the cassius blue

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The cassius blue drinking from a scorpion tail.

I am thrilled with the number of small butterflies visiting our garden lately. Our newest visitor, leptotes cassius theonus, or otherwise known as the cassius blue butterfly, spent a lot of time drinking nectar from our scorpion tail.

The cassius blue sitting on a leaf of the penta.

The first thing that caught my eye, which is now trained to look for erratic flying insects, was the cassius blue’s two “eyespots” on its hindwing.

plumbago

Their wingspan are small, only ranging from 1.4 to 2.5 centimeters. We do have one of its host plants in our garden, the plumbago, and tons of it.

I would imagine it would be next to impossible to spot an egg, although definitely interesting as they are bluish green in color.

The cassius blue drinking from a scorpion tail.

The male has bright blue wings, while the female has paler blue with darker borders. Although I was not able to photograph the wings open, I definitely spotted the darker blue when flying. With his erratic style of flying, as well as it flying closer to the ground, from what I have read, is another indicator of it being a male.

The cassius blue drinking from a scorpion tail.

The females slow down a little more while finding its host plant, or much higher near the tree tops.

The cassius blue drinking from a scorpion tail.
The cassius blue drinking from a scorpion tail.

The first

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Our first eastern black swallowtail butterfly hatched in our butterfly house this morning – nine days after making its chrysalis. Research shows that it is also called black swallowtail, American swallowtail, parsnip swallowtail and parsley swallowtail.

I believe we released a female, as the hind wings reveal a more iridescent blue with the upper surface showing two rows of yellow spots, which are dimmer on a female.

The wingspan ranges from 6.9 to 8.4 centimeters, with the female larger in size. I have read that they are among the easiest to attract to your garden, although the adults are seldom abundant. They can be found February through November in Florida. This butterfly will fly slow and near the ground when looking for nectar, or its host plant.

When a butterfly first emerges it spends time circulating blood into the veins by straightening and opening its wings.

The butterfly’s blood does not need to carry oxygen, as air is brought into its body through its tracheal system. Such things as food and hormones are circulated through the blood. Rather than being red, the butterfly has clear, greenish, or yellowish fluid, which contains various types of cells. The flow of blood goes through chambers and channels, traveling around the body tissues.

The heart of a butterfly is a narrow tube, which has small holes at intervals. According to the book “Florida Butterfly Gardening,” it extends the body’s length along the back before making a loop in the thorax. When the butterfly expands and contracts its abdomen, as well as small pumps in the thorax, it moves the blood throughout the body to areas such as the wing veins, legs, antennae, proboscis and palpi.

The butterfly continues to be such a fascinating insect to me.

This “black beauty,” which my daughter named it this morning, is definitely a stunning butterfly. We hope it stops by for a visit again.

The zebra

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The zebra longwing flying in for a sip from the penta flower.

The butterfly’s tongue, or proboscis, has two parts that have a groove on the inner side. When a butterfly first emerges, you can see the proboscis in two parts, as it uncoils and coils it during the early stages of emerging from its chrysalis. When it is done with that motion the two parts are fused into one for drinking.

Did you know there are muscles, nerves and air tubes the length of the proboscis? When blood is forced into the proboscis it extends and the muscles help the butterfly move it when feeding. Tiny sensory pegs on the outside of the proboscis, one near the tip, both find and taste the nectar. The zebra longwing is a special species as it collects pollen, protein, from flowers as well with its proboscis.

Rescued

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This polydamas swallowtail was rescued today from water. It sat on my hand for a little while drying its wings, before I put it on a penta flower to finish drying. When I came back, it had flown away. Successful rescue and first time this species of swallowtail sat on my hand long enough to really see the beautiful marking, even through the beat up wings.

The polydamas, or otherwise known as the gold rim swallowtail, has a very rapid beat when flying. Even when it is stopping for a drink of nectar, the wings are still beating.

I believe this is a male, as the yellow markings on the outside of its wings are narrow. The yellow on the female are wider.