Hi everyone,
I saw in Brasil a Sulphur butterfly having a weird behaviour: it was laying down on a leaf, but not with its wings open (see picture). Would you have any idea of why this behaviour ?
Thank you !
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It could be sunning itself. Butterflies rely on the environment to warm them up to their optimal operating temperature, and they’ll sun themselves on leaves to do this.
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Ok so it’s not weird if he was warming up this way and not with its wings open, or by being “straight” on the leaf to warm both sides ?
Closed wings up straight exposes less surface to the sun - so wouldn’t help to warm a cold butterfly.
Oh really ? Because i read yesterday that for some tropical butterflies, ie saturniidae that are brown, and some dark butterflies, they would warm up themselves like this ? So that would not be true ? Thank you very much
I’ve seen hairstreak butterflies sunning with wings closed like this. For butterflies with bright patterns when their wings are spread, keeping them closed might be a compromise to avoid predators while sunning or resting.
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Super interesting, thank you !
If the source you read is reliable - then I defer to that. Dark wings would anyway get warmer.
Ok, thanks !
There are a fair number of butterflies that have dark outsides to their wings for camouflage purposes, and bright insides of the wings. I imagine this sunning position might be good for those butterflies with the camouflaged wings, both to keep their bright colors hidden and to expose the dark surface to soak up the most light.
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Ok thank you !