Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Limenitis arthemis or Red Spotted Purple Butterfly


I have seen a lot of these red spotted purple butterflies around in the last week or so. This one I found dead on the road as I was going walking. It did allow me to get a good look at it and admire the wings close up. The top picture is the inside of the wings and the more decorative side with the orange dots is the underside of the wings. Riding on a dirt road, they seemed to be everywhere, flying across the road and sitting on the soil. I have often seen butterflies puddling (drinking from a wet place) but these were just lighting singly on the dry dirt. There must have been something in the soil they wanted because there were dozens after it. This butterfly is a mimic for the pipevine swallowtail, which is poisonous (to birds)

No comments:

Post a Comment