Last time we visited The Butterfly Estates, a 3,600 square foot glass conservatory in Downtown Fort Myers, the malachite butterfly left us in awe. Yesterday when my daughter and I visited, this beauty tugged at our heart strings again. I was taking a photograph of a malachite butterfly when my daughter began saying “look mom.” A malachite butterfly landed on her hand. The pure joy that spread across her face was priceless.

I know I have said this before, but there is something truly special about this lighter than a feather insect resting on your hand. They were resting everywhere yesterday at the conservatory, making it quite easy to capture their beauty with my camera.

It’s the dark brown and green splashes of color that truly make this a stunning butterfly and their wingspan that can range from 7.1 to 8.4 cm.

As I wrote before, the Malachite, Siproea stelenes, is named after the semi-precious green gemstone.