View allAll Photos Tagged questionmark
Good morning everyone and I hope you had a nice weekend. Featured for Butterfly Monday is the Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis). Also sometimes known as an Angelwing butterfly along with its close cousin the Eastern Comma. The easiest way to differentiate between the two is the unique marking on the underside of the hind wing, but another way is the extra wing spot, or bar, on the top side of the forewing, which the Question Mark has, but the Eastern Comma lacks.
Like the Eastern Comma, the Question Mark has two seasonal forms, summer and fall/winter. This is called seasonal dimorphism. The above is a summer form butterfly...it has much darker coloring on the hindwings. The summer form also has generally less developed "swallowtails" than the fall/winter form. I took the liberty to post a pic in the comment section of a fall/winter Question Mark photographed in 2010 so you can see the difference between the two forms.
As for these photos, the above two were taken at the reclaimed strip mine of the butterfly feeding on tree sap. Unfortunately the butterfly isn't the best of specimens, but with butterflies being scarce as they are this year I can't afford to be choosey.
As a reminder, don't forget to click on "view previous comments" if you don't see the individual photos in the comment section. Even better, scroll to them by clicking on the arrow thingy to the right of the above pic. And if you want to view any picture in the comment section large all you have to do is click on it where you'll also find the full text describing this butterfly.
Thank you for stopping by...and I hope you have a truly great day and week.
Lacey
Camera: Canon 1100D astro modified
Scope: Askar FMA180Pro
Mount: SW AZ-GTi EQ mode
Filter RGB: Optolong UHC
Expo RGB: 112 x 300s (9h+) + Dark, Flat, Bias
Controlled by AsiAir Mini
Processed in PixInsight and Photoshop LR
2023.08.15 - 2023.08.27, Varpalota, Hungary
A Question Mark butterfly, Polygonia interrogationis, in the Leslie Street garden allotments, Toronto.
Riddler: What's black and blue and going forwards will tend to be wet all over?
Doctor: I don't have the foggiest notion!
Polygonia interrogationis. Strange name, strange shape for a butterfly. Deep inside a bush beside Polishing Pond, Fulshear TX
...being four (4) Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma) and one (1) Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis) butterfly.
ISO400, aperture f/8, exposure .003 seconds (1/320) focal length 300mm
Whenever I have big questions, I stop by here, so I can end that question.
At least then I know I have my questions right, right?
WAH- April. Existential
Polygonia interrogationis - I've posted this butterfly before - after it emerged on April 30, 2016 - this is the other side.
Date: 00:46:52JST Aug.4, 2019
Location: Izu City, Shizuoka Pref., Japan
Optics: Vixen VSD100F3.8+V0.79x (300mm f/3.0)
Mount: Hobym Observatory CRUX170HD
Camera: Nikon D810A
ISO speed: 1600
Exposure: 38x180sec.
(Taken by Mr.TMT)
Processing: PixInsight
(Processed by BLUEMOON LIFE)