Morpho Portrait - _TNY_2168
Closeup on the face of a banded blue morpho (Morpho achilles).
You see those fuzzy little "arms" on each side of the proboscis? Those are called labial palps (or palpi). There are multiple theories about what their purpose is, from serving as tasting organs, to protecting the probocis when curled up or perhaps to keep the compound eyes clean when it is feeding.
Since I had the camera on a tripod when I took this, I decided to try capturing a short video with the macro rig instead of just whipping out the smartphone.
This resulted in a neat little clip where you can see the butterfly moving those here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52897598321/
Morpho Portrait - _TNY_2168
Closeup on the face of a banded blue morpho (Morpho achilles).
You see those fuzzy little "arms" on each side of the proboscis? Those are called labial palps (or palpi). There are multiple theories about what their purpose is, from serving as tasting organs, to protecting the probocis when curled up or perhaps to keep the compound eyes clean when it is feeding.
Since I had the camera on a tripod when I took this, I decided to try capturing a short video with the macro rig instead of just whipping out the smartphone.
This resulted in a neat little clip where you can see the butterfly moving those here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52897598321/