Sweet Succor. Heliconius charithonia, Zebra Longwing, on Tropical Milkweed, Asclepias currassavia, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
That long Butterfly Tongue or Proboscis is coiled tightly inside our insect's head when not in use. If the nectar of a flower is sufficiently enticing, a kind of haemolymph pump uncoils and lengthens that Proboscis. It then functions basically as a kind of straw with a suction pump in Butterfly's head. The tongue at its tip also has a kind of sponge which takes up nectar - later to be sucked up - by capillary action. It's all very intricate and highly fascinating.
Here in the Butterfly House of the Hortus is a Zebra Longwing whose forebears came from Middle and South America (including the West Indies). Its keepers have wisely planted Tropical Milkweed for its nourishment. Asclepias currassavia hails from those same Americas, as the 'currassavia' - from Curaçao - already indicates.
Sweet Succor. Heliconius charithonia, Zebra Longwing, on Tropical Milkweed, Asclepias currassavia, Hortus Botanicus, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
That long Butterfly Tongue or Proboscis is coiled tightly inside our insect's head when not in use. If the nectar of a flower is sufficiently enticing, a kind of haemolymph pump uncoils and lengthens that Proboscis. It then functions basically as a kind of straw with a suction pump in Butterfly's head. The tongue at its tip also has a kind of sponge which takes up nectar - later to be sucked up - by capillary action. It's all very intricate and highly fascinating.
Here in the Butterfly House of the Hortus is a Zebra Longwing whose forebears came from Middle and South America (including the West Indies). Its keepers have wisely planted Tropical Milkweed for its nourishment. Asclepias currassavia hails from those same Americas, as the 'currassavia' - from Curaçao - already indicates.