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> Blue Morpho Butterfly
for kids - blue morpho facts, fun & pics
Blue morphos are among the largest and most dazzling butterflies in the world. Their wings are iridescent blue edged in black, with ocellate (spotted) undersides in muted brown, bronze, and white. Their wingspans vary from five to eight inches.
Female morphos are slightly duller than males,
with broader wings. They are also less graceful flyers.
Like all butterflies, morphos have two clubbed antennas, and four wings--two fore and two hind. They are insects, which means that they have six legs and three body segments: head, thorax, and abdomen. They breathe through "spiracles"--breathing holes arranged in pairs on the thorax and abdomen.
Tiny spurs on the ends of their legs help them land and cling to perches. They use a long, coiled proboscis to sip juice from fruit. They taste fruit with sensors on their legs, and they taste-smell the air with their antennas, which are combination tongues and noses. Their eyes are compound, made up of thousands of tiny lenses that allow them to see in all directions, and they see a broader spectrum of color than humans do.
Lepidopterists often identify butterflies by their flight styles. Morpho flight is effortless and undulating.
What makes morphos blue? The wings,
bodies, and legs of butterflies and moths are covered with dust-like
scales, lined up in overlapping rows like roof tiles. These tiny
scales, only 75 to 200 micrometers or one one-hundredth of an
inch wide, grow out of the butterfly's epidermal cells. They are
made of a substance called chitin--the same organic material that
composes human hair and finger nails.
The scales on upper sides of the blue morpho's wings are transparent. They appear blue to human eyes because numerous, microscopic ridges on their surfaces scatter and amplify blue light. The wings themselves, beneath the scales, are also transparent. The effect of shimmering blue is intensified by the dark brown and black pigments of scales on the undersides of the wings.
Scientists call the creation of iridescent color from reflected light "constructive interference." Other examples are the brilliant iridescence of soap bubbles and oil films and the metallic greens of some beetle wings.
Why are morphos blue? The morpho's beautiful
wings attract mates, intimidate rivals, help them establish territory,
and confuse predators. As they flutter through the forest, blue
morphos seem to appear and disappear, appear and disappear--like
small, flashing lights. Rapid alternation of the angle at which
light strikes their wings causes them to glimmer. Other insects
also see ultraviolet light reflected from the blue morpho's wings.
Insect-eating predators have a hard time sighting and following the twinkling blue morphos, and no birds or other animals depend on them as a food source. This special kind of protective coloration is unique to butterflies.
What eats blue morphos? Morphos have
few predators, but they are sometimes eaten by birds, usually
jacamars or flycathers which seize butterflies in flight. Caterpillars
are eaten by birds and lizards. Morpho pupae are preyed upon by
wasps.
What do morphos eat? Like other butterflies,
morphos cannot chew food because they have no teeth. Instead,
they sip the juice of fallen, rotting fruit, which they suck through
their proboscises, using them like drinking straws. They also
sip the fluids of decomposing carrion and wet mud. Adult butterflies
don't need food to grow or regenerate body parts. Their lives
are very short, dedicated exclusively to reproduction. They need
energy only to fly and mate, which they get from sugars in the
fluids they drink.
Other insects have proboscises, but only butterflies and moths have proboscises that roll up when not in use.
Caterpillars--butterflies in the larval stage of metamorphosis--feast on the lush green leaves of tropical legumes (plants of the pea family), which they crush with their strong jaws and teeth.
What is metamorphosis? The word "metamorphosis"
means transformation or profound change. Like many other insects
and most amphibians, butterflies begin life looking something
like worms and then, presto change-o, they transform to winged
beauties.
The sequence of changes that an animal undergoes as it matures from fertilized egg to adult is called its life cycle. The blue morpho life cycle lasts 115 days, almost four months. It consists of four stages: egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis), and imago (adult butterfly).
The female morpho lays little green eggs in
small clusters like dewdrops. She sticks them on the underside
of a leaf with a special "glue" that she secretes from
the tip of abdomen. Like birds' eggs, these insect eggs contain
developing embryos and liquid food for their nourishment.
Morpho caterpillars hatch after about
nine days. Although they look very different from their mothers
or from other adult insects, they are anatomically similar. Their
thoraxes and abdomens are hairy, reddish brown, and spotted with
yellow. On their heads they have two small antennas, two palpi
(touch organs), six pairs of ocelli (simple eyes), a spinneret
(organ that spins silky thread), and a mouth. The antennas and
palpi face downward and help the nearly blind larvae make their
way around their leafy nurseries.
Often a caterpillar's first meal is the eggshell through which it has just emerged.
Morpho caterpillars are born hungry and they stay hungry throughout this stage of their lives, eating constantly to store energy for growth and transformation into butterflies. They have strong jaws and teeth for grinding leaves. Some observers have noticed morpho caterpillars eating each other, but this may be an unusual reaction to stress.
Like all butterfly larvae, morpho caterpillars have three legs, growing in pairs from each of the three segments of their thoraxes. They also have five pairs of "prolegs"; these function as legs, although they are structurally different from true legs. On caterpillars, the prolegs end with tiny hooks, called "crochets," which are used to cling to webs and leaves. The last pair of prolegs is called the "anal claspers."
The hairs on morpho caterpillars' tiny black heads are prickly and irritating to birds that try to eat them. Caterpillars also protect themselves from birds and other insects by releasing a strong, unpleasant odor from a gland located near their forelegs.
A caterpillars' exoskeleton is made of chitin, like the adult butterfly's wing scales, and it must shed this tough cuticle as it grows. When the time to molt approaches, a new cuticle forms beneath the old, tight one. A gland releases slippery fluid between the new and old cuticles, and the old cuticle splits at the back of the head and then down the thorax and abdomen. The caterpillar shrugs off the old exoskeleton, which shrivels as it dries (the husk of shed cuticle is called the "exuvia"). While its new cuticle is still relatively soft, the caterpillar plumps up by filling its body with air. This stretches the new exoskeleton, giving the caterpillar room to grow before it must molt again.
The period between each molt is called an "instar." Most caterpillars go through four to six instars before they form their chrysalises. During this period of eating, growing, and molting, the morpho caterpillar lives with its brothers and sisters in a communal web that looks something like a tangled cobweb attached to the limb of a tree.
After eleven weeks, when it has grown to three and a half inches, the caterpillar uses its spinneret to make a silk pad. It attaches the pad to a secure surface, usually a small branch in the communal web. Then it fixes its anal claspers in the pad and hangs upside down to form a chrysalis.
The outer protective layer of the chrysalis
has already developed under the cuticle. As the hanging
caterpillar twists and bends, the cuticle splits. The caterpillar
stabs its newly formed cremaster, a series of microscopic hooks
on the outer layer of the chrysalis, into the silk pad to replace
the anal claspers, which are shed with the last cuticle.
The chrysalis is a sack made of chitin, with tiny spiracles or breathing holes. For a short time, it is the insect's outermost body part or exoskeleton. Inside, the caterpillar dissolves into liquid. Slowly, the living cells of the liquid caterpillar reorganize to become a butterfly. Outlines of the new butterfly's body parts begin to be faintly visible through the transparent chrysalis.
Blue morpho chrysalises are smooth and jade green, like large, pale jewels. They hang suspended in the web for about two weeks until the butterflies emerge. Morphos in their chrysalises may seem vulnerable to predators, but they have a unique protective device. When a wasp touches a particular spot on the pupa, it emits an ultrasonic sound that the wasp finds repulsive.
Imagoes or mature morphos live two to
three weeks. During this brief time, males and females come together
to mate.
In addition to the scales that give their wings color, morpho's also have wing scales, called "androconia," that produce pheromones. Pheromones are chemicals that attract butterflies of the opposite sex.
Where in the rainforest do morphos live? Blue
morphos inhabit tropical forests from sea level to about 4,500
feet. Adult butterflies feed on the forest floor, where they perch
with wings folded, fully camouflaged. Morpho populations seem
to share "roadways"--paths through the forest used over
and over again. Human observers see morphos most commonly in clearings,
along streams, and in the canopy, where their shimmering blue
wings are most visible. When looking for mates or staking out
their territories, they flit gracefully through all layers of
the forest, from the floor to the emergent layer.
Male morphos flock together to feed and roost in large groups, suspended from the undersides of leaves in the forest canopy. Flocking is unusual behavior for camouflaged animals, which tend to live singly in order to reduce their visibility to predators. Scientists speculate that morpho males flock to preserve energy. Settling in one sleeping or feeding place allows them to spend less effort looking for new safe places.
Like other butterflies, morphos gather energy for flight from sunlight. Pilots of small planes sometimes see groups of morphos in the forest's emergent layer, appearing like intermittent blue lights against the sunbathed treetops.
Why do they need energy from sunlight?
Morphos have only their short, adult lives to mate. Males spend
most of their energy locating and competing for mates. Females
spend a lot of energy laying eggs. Because they do not eat solid
food, their only sources of energy are sugars in the liquids they
sip and sunlight.
Do people need blue morphos? Morphos
have no agricultural or food value for humans, but they are highly
prized for their beauty. They appear in folk literature and art.
Collectors mount them, and craftspeople use them to create jewelry
and ornaments. They are one of the most popular butterflies in
pavilions around the world, and recently they have become a "poster
butterfly" for the rainforest.
Are blue morphos endangered? Blue morphos
are not endangered, but like most rainforest animals they are
threatened by loss and fragmentation of their tropical habitats.
Species and Range. Blue morphos are
insects of the Lepidoptera order, Morphoidae family, Morpho genus.
The common blue morpho, a native of tropical forests from Mexico
to South America, is species Morpho peleides.
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