Coiled Proboscis
During rest, the proboscis (equated to a "tongue", a tube-like feeding structure) remains coiled tightly against the head; however, when the butterfly feeds, the proboscis unfurls via muscular contraction and a hydraulic, step-wise mechanism
Kleiner Schillerfalter (Apatura ilia f. clytie) mit seinem so wunderschön eingerollten Saugrüssel
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Babenhausen 28AUG2019 – Lesser Purple Emperor Butterfly:
This male Apatura ilia form clytie butterfly flew onto my shoe! And as if that were not amazing enough, as it turned, its color changed from 42 shades of ordinary brown to become iridescent blue!
Billions of tiny scales – in 2 types – on the dorsal wing overlap like roof tiles and cover the membrane surface, to the naked eye appearing as dust, producing a brilliant color due to multilayer photonic crystal micro- and nanostructure, transforming a plain brownish hue to a stunning violet-blue, a phenomenon used to attract mates, camouflage, and startle predators: wingtop color changes in the wake of the variation of the incident light angle.
Even though this is the first time I've identified it, the Lesser Purple Emperor butterfly's range, the Palearctic [Palaearctic] (first identified in the 19th century and still used as the basis for zoogeographic classification), is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms on the Earth's surface, stretching across Europe, Asia north of the Himalayan foothills, North Africa, and northern and central parts of the Arabian Peninsula.
Hope you enjoy the 26% of 61 butterfly photos I took this day!
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– Album – Germany – 26AUG-11SEP2019:
Three days before leaving, I got my schedule rearranged to free up time for Joe & me to spend two weeks in and around Babenhausen!
Coiled Proboscis
During rest, the proboscis (equated to a "tongue", a tube-like feeding structure) remains coiled tightly against the head; however, when the butterfly feeds, the proboscis unfurls via muscular contraction and a hydraulic, step-wise mechanism
Kleiner Schillerfalter (Apatura ilia f. clytie) mit seinem so wunderschön eingerollten Saugrüssel
________________________________________________
Babenhausen 28AUG2019 – Lesser Purple Emperor Butterfly:
This male Apatura ilia form clytie butterfly flew onto my shoe! And as if that were not amazing enough, as it turned, its color changed from 42 shades of ordinary brown to become iridescent blue!
Billions of tiny scales – in 2 types – on the dorsal wing overlap like roof tiles and cover the membrane surface, to the naked eye appearing as dust, producing a brilliant color due to multilayer photonic crystal micro- and nanostructure, transforming a plain brownish hue to a stunning violet-blue, a phenomenon used to attract mates, camouflage, and startle predators: wingtop color changes in the wake of the variation of the incident light angle.
Even though this is the first time I've identified it, the Lesser Purple Emperor butterfly's range, the Palearctic [Palaearctic] (first identified in the 19th century and still used as the basis for zoogeographic classification), is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms on the Earth's surface, stretching across Europe, Asia north of the Himalayan foothills, North Africa, and northern and central parts of the Arabian Peninsula.
Hope you enjoy the 26% of 61 butterfly photos I took this day!
________________________________
– Album – Germany – 26AUG-11SEP2019:
Three days before leaving, I got my schedule rearranged to free up time for Joe & me to spend two weeks in and around Babenhausen!