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Fritillary Butterfly- Gulf Fritillary, Florida, Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge

According to Rutowski and Schaefer in their research report "Courtship Behavior of the Gulf Fritillary" published in the Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society in 1984, "Gulf Fritillary copulation occurs with the adults facing opposite directions and their abdomens touching. The male will grasp the female's abdomen with a pincer like organ called a clasper, and then insert his aedeagus (analog of a penis) into the female's reproductive tract to gradually pass his sperm (or spermatophore) to her."

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Uploaded on March 23, 2018
Taken on February 27, 2018