tags: evolutionary biology, behavioral ecology, biochemistry, biophysics, magnetoreception, photoreceptor, cryptochromes, geomagnetic fields, butterflies, Monarch Butterfly, Danaus plexippus, birds, migration, signal transduction, researchblogging.org,peer-reviewed research, peer-reviewed paper
Every autumn, millions of monarch butterflies, Danaus plexippus, each weighing less than one gram (one US penny weighs 2.5 grams), migrate nearly 4000 kilometers (3000 miles) between their summer breeding grounds in the United States and their wintering areas either in southern California or in the…
Butterflies
awild | January 25, 2010Tomorrow's NOVA on PBS covers the great orange butterflies on their migration to Mexico:
Orange-and-black wings fill the sky as NOVA charts one of nature's most remarkable phenomena: the epic migration of monarch butterflies across North America. NOVA's filmmakers followed monarchs on the wing throughout their extraordinary odyssey. To capture a butterfly's point of view, camera operators used a helicopter, ultralight, and hot-air balloon for aerial views along the butterflies' transcontinental route.
ejohnson | September 15, 2009
A scanning electron microscope image of a monarch butterfly wing.
Since a scanning electron microscope only collects a black and white image (representing intensity of electrons) the image must be colorized with photoshop. The colors are fairly close to the real colors of the wing.
The wing is composed of scales or platelets that in turn have a micro structure that creates turbulence as the wing moves through the air. The turbulence is responsible for decreasing drag on the wing and allows the butterfly to move with less energy.
Monarch Butterflies are native to North America where they…
sporte | March 11, 2008Your canopy is disappearing, you're likely to freeze.
NASA's Earth Observatory reports that over 1,110 acres of forest were illegally logged, during the past four years, in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in central Mexico.
Monarch butterflies travel here from all over the United States and Canada. Images from the Ikonos satellite tell us though, that future migrating butterflies are likely have problems in this reserve. The top image is from 2004, the bottom image shows what things are like now.
NASA's Earth Observatory
Without the trees to protect them, the butterflies could…
edyong | March 4, 2008The transformation from caterpillar to butterfly or moth is one of the most beguiling in the animal world. Both larva and adult are just stages in the life of a single animal, but are nonetheless completely separated in appearance, habitat and behaviour. The imagery associated with such change is inescapably beautiful, and as entrancing to a poet as it is to a biologist.
According to popular belief, within the pupa, the caterpillar's body is completely overhauled, broken down into a form of soup and rebuilt into a winged adult. Richard Buckmister Fuller once said that "there is nothing in a…
grrlscientist | October 11, 2007tags: Whirlabout, grass skipper, butterfly, Polites vibex, Image of the Day
Female Whirlabout, Polites vibex.
Image: Biosparite. [larger view]
The photographer writes: I encountered this species of grass skipper earlier this afternoon in the West 11th St. Park. It is nectaring at volunteers of Cut & Come Again Zinnias reseeding from 2006. One good way to have a butterfly garden on the cheap is to sow a lot of zinnia seeds.
grrlscientist | September 5, 2007tags: female Regal Fritillary, Speyeria idalia, Image of the Day
Female Regal Fritillary, Speyeria idalia.
Image: Dave Rintoul. [larger].
grrlscientist | September 4, 2007tags: female Regal Fritillary, Speyeria idalia, Image of the Day
Female Regal Fritillary, Speyeria idalia.
Image: Dave Rintoul. [larger].
The photographer writes: I was out on the Konza yesterday and captured some more images that your readers might appreciate. This is a female Regal Fritillary, Speyeria idalia, a large and showy butterfly that is endemic to the tall-grass praire. As such, it is a "species of concern" on the USFWS lists. It is also a butterfly not commonly seen by many lepidopterists.
Besides being gorgeous, these critters are really interesting. The males emerge in late…