Eastern Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) female resting on Hoptree R7168 London, ON HD
Battered, but not Broken! Eastern Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) female resting on Hoptree.
London, Ontario, Canada.
August 30, 2020.
This might be one of the last (adult) Giants of 2020. She's obviously been through a lot, but she hasn't stopped laying her eggs. ❤️
It's truly amazing how much wing damage a butterfly can sustain and continue on about her duties.
This "old gal" (several weeks old) has lost nearly all of her right hind wing and part of her left, but she was still quite capable of finding my Hoptree and laying several precious eggs!
This wing damage is consistent with a bird strike. Butterfly wings are designed to tear away so the butterfly can escape relatively unharmed. Her flight was a bit laboured, but not as much as one might expect.
You can see evidence of a different bird strike on the tip of her front wings. Looks like her wings were closed during that attack, because the same damage is echoed on both right and left wings.
Notice my Hoptree has leaf miners (the squiggly lines)! Probably a tiny moth larva (Fomoria pteliaeella). This family of moths are called Pygmy Leafmining Moths.
There are hundreds of species of Pygmy Leafmining Moths. The LARGEST of them have a wingspan of only 1 cm across. @@
Eastern Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) female resting on Hoptree R7168 London, ON HD
Battered, but not Broken! Eastern Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) female resting on Hoptree.
London, Ontario, Canada.
August 30, 2020.
This might be one of the last (adult) Giants of 2020. She's obviously been through a lot, but she hasn't stopped laying her eggs. ❤️
It's truly amazing how much wing damage a butterfly can sustain and continue on about her duties.
This "old gal" (several weeks old) has lost nearly all of her right hind wing and part of her left, but she was still quite capable of finding my Hoptree and laying several precious eggs!
This wing damage is consistent with a bird strike. Butterfly wings are designed to tear away so the butterfly can escape relatively unharmed. Her flight was a bit laboured, but not as much as one might expect.
You can see evidence of a different bird strike on the tip of her front wings. Looks like her wings were closed during that attack, because the same damage is echoed on both right and left wings.
Notice my Hoptree has leaf miners (the squiggly lines)! Probably a tiny moth larva (Fomoria pteliaeella). This family of moths are called Pygmy Leafmining Moths.
There are hundreds of species of Pygmy Leafmining Moths. The LARGEST of them have a wingspan of only 1 cm across. @@