Kids > Blue Morpho Butterfly
-
Blue morphos are iridescent blue butterflies with spotted underwings in brown, bronze, and white. Their wings are five to eight inches wide.
- Butterflies are
insects. They have six legs and three body segments: head, thorax, and abdomen. They breathe through "spiracles"--holes on the thorax and abdomen. Butterflies have two clubbed antennas, two forewings, and two hindwings.
- Morphos
taste with sensors on their legs, and they
taste-smell the air with their antennas, which are combination tongues and noses.
- Morpho
eyes are made up of thousands of tiny lenses that allow them to see in all directions. They see more colors than humans do.
- The wings, bodies, and legs of butterflies and moths are covered with dust-like
scales, lined up in overlapping rows. These tiny scales are only 1/100 of an inch wide.
- The scales on the blue morpho's wing tops are not colored
blue. They appear blue because teeny ridges on their scales reflect blue light. Another example of color made of reflected light is the brilliant, shiny colors of soap bubbles.
-
Fluttering through the forest, blue morphos seem to appear and disappear, appear and disappear--like small, flashing lights.
- The blue morpho
life cycle lasts 115 days. It includes four stages: egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis), and imago (mature butterfly). The amazing change from caterpillar to imago is called "metamorphosis."
- Morpho adults eat and sleep on the
forest floor and in the
understory. They flit through all layers of the forest when they are mating.
- Morpho caterpillars
eat lots of leaves to store energy for their change to butterflies. Morpho adults use their long, coiled proboscises to sip fluids from fruit, mud, and dead animals. Adults also gather energy from sunlight.
- Morphos'
shimmering blue wings attract other butterflies and confuse animals that might eat them. Their soft brown and white underwings camouflage them when they are sleeping or resting.
|
