I found a Historis odius larva, it pupated, and the butterfly hatched today. It dried it’s wings properly and then flew to a nearby indoor plant. Now it opened it’s wings and doesn’t want to close them. I thought it needed sun so I put it near the window. It basked for hours but still doesn’t want to close its wings. I wonder what’s going on here, is it releasing pheromones or something like that? Or should it keep basking? Should I release it now or till tomorrow?
Is this normal?? Could the flight muscles be damaged or something? I would really thank any explanation, I raise butterflies for hobby, not because I’m an expert lepidopterist, so I’m still ignorant in some aspects.
Update: IT STILL HASN’T CLOSED ITS WINGSSSS, and he’s still drinking that pineapple.
Update: I already sent the bug to sleep, and he’s sleeping with open wingssss!!! He hasn’t closed them yet!!! I’m starting to worry if this is something more serious!
Update: The bug is sleeping now, but still with open wings!!
i think if it’s eating and able to fly normally then you’d have nothing much to worry about? i just read a brief paper (https://images.peabody.yale.edu/lepsoc/jls/1970s/1979/1979-33(2)112-Muyshondt.pdf) on the behavior of adults of this species that mostly covered male territoriality and not much about females, but if females aren’t as active fliers as males then you might have a female (although that still doesn’t quite explain the open resting wings). maybe set this one outside to see if it’ll fly there? some insects seem to be aware they’re in an enclosed space and won’t fly to protect their wings. but it also could just randomly be that it developed/hatched improperly :/ i briefly raised moths in a lab and sometimes they wouldn’t emerge or live short adult lives due to environmental conditions just being a bit off. if you have the ac on, it might be too cold for it to fly a lot and might explain why it’s sunning so much. sorry this was so long but i hope it helps and i hope this butterfly turns out ok!
I was almost sure I had a female, and that seems to be so, she isn’t a very active flier, she just flew a bit and short distances, and maybe also because I don’t have a lot of space. But wait, why are females inactive fliers if they’re supposed to search a host plant to lay eggs?
That seems to be happening, and definitely experienced that before.
What? What could had happened? But at first it did closed its wings a bit, and when it flies it lands with closed wings, but opens them like a second later.
I wish I had ac!! I’ve battled a lot to buy one, but in my house fans aren’t enough, it’s just toooooooo hot.
Anyway, thanks for your answer, hopefully someone can explain what’s happening here, but you gave a lot of context, and that paper looks interesting so I’ll read it later.
But how is it going to camouflage?? It has a cryptic underside (leaf mimic).
I would release the butterfly. If it’s behaving this way because it’s in an enclosed environment, then it should do better after you release it. And if there’s a physical problem with its muscles or wing structure, that’s probably a permanent condition that won’t be fixed by being kept inside longer.
I’ve raised many butterflies before, but I always notice they always behave weird when I don’t release them immediately, is this because of being indoors? How could that affect them? Is the best option release them as soon as they start to fly by their own?
I just raise them to document their life cycles but also observe them in the wild. I always try my best to release them immediately in fact but it’s not thay easy. Thanks for the binocular recommendations btw and welcome to the forum!
