Like you, Wordwind, I believe that I have seen more butterflies flittering about this spring than in any past spring that I can remember, but in my case I can't be sure; sometimes just seeing a few of these flying splashes of dazzling colors seem to be a hundred.
This depends, I think, on the extent of my ability to notice.
So anyway, to double check my initial impression I planned to spend this past weekend checking some woodland clearings nearby with the intent to report my findings back here to you tonight. But thunderstorms broke out all over North Alabama so I stayed home and now have nothing to report. Then why am I reporting? Well, because of a butterfly, or, more accurately, a giant moth.
Late last night as I sat at my computer checking Animal Safari to see if anyone had posted any information about finding a preponderance of butterflies in the south , I heard a loud "thump" on the plate glass window to my left.
Thump! Thump! Thump! I jumped up! Damnation ...a crazed bloodsucking bat was trying to break through two layers of hard glass to kill me. On the next "thump" I saw it more clearly, it wasn't a bat it was a pale green ghastly thing about seven inches long- a giant Luna Moth with wings that trailed like a long translucent gown beneath its white furry body. I walked over and turned off the overhead light in the computer room and the lust-crazed beautiful bug stopped its incessant thumping.
I felt a little smug. Only I knew why the Luna Moth stopped beating her head against the window pane when I turned out the light; most laypeople think moths behave so stupidly because moths are biologically attracted to light, but now, I know better, because two months ago I bought a book entitled "An Obsession with Butterflies: Our Long Love Affair with A Singular Insect" and that is why I am reporting here tonight.
Sharman Apt Russell, a Quaker by belief, is a most remarkable woman. Her book above was written "With the allure of a poet and the clarity of a scientist" according to the Boston Herald, and I wholeheartedly agree. Here are some excerpts from her book...
Chapter Five: Butterfly Brains
...Butterflies in this genus have good memories. They remember favorite flowers. They remember favorite roosting sites. They remember to hold a grudge, avoiding spots where some scientist captured them days earlier.
In one laboratory only the Heliconus could remember not to fly into the fluorescent bulbs.
They score about a 2 on the SAT scores.
Chapter Seven: Love Stories
Male Queens also have brushlike organs, or hairpencils, tucked away in their abdomens. When a male sees a female, he inserts his hairpencils into his hindwing gland and gathers his personal scent. Now he flies under and ahead of the female, expands his hairpencils, and dusts her. The more alkaloids the male has ingested, the better he seems to smell, and the more clearly he seems to signal: I am fit, I am able, I have a big nuptial gift
The male's chemical bouquet contains an inhibitor against flight and a glue to keep the dust on the female's antennae. Females courted in the air land. The hairpenciling continues. A female says yes by closing her wings and giving the male access to her abdomen. He cuddles closer and palpates he antennae as they join.
She says no by fluttering her wings. Now the male tries dropping on her repeatedly and forcing her back into the air, where he will repeat the entire process. These second attempts may or may not be successful.
Once their genitalia are locked, the male rises and carries the female in a postnuptial flight.They may be together for as log as eight hours, and he prefers a more private place. ( In some species the female is larger and carries the male. Sometimes, after mating is finished, a female will fly off, dangling her partner, simply in the hope of dislodging him).
During copulation, the male passes on his spermatophore - the sperm and the nuptial gift - which includes the alkaloids collected earlier from plants. Possibly she uses these chemicals to increase her toxicity of she may pass them on to her eggs, to help protect them.
The female Queen mates as many as fifteen times in her life. She'll produce and lay a number of egg batches fertilized by a number of males.
Let the male collect the alkaloids. The female has enough work to do.
Oh drat! I've run out of time and I haven't got to the chapter about why moths are not attracted to light. Well anyway the sun is coming back out in Alabama tomorrow. I'll go count butterflies tomorrow and continue this report.
