Butterfly sailboat, description, characteristics of species

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

Years and even centuries will pass, and nature will not cease to amaze people with the refinement and charm of its creations. Butterfly sailboat - the perfect confirmation of exceptional beauty, combined with lightness and unobtrusiveness. Watching the fluttering of a creature descended from the pages of fairy tales, saturated with a special mood, means to be transported back to the carefree years of childhood. Feel, as before, the magic of a wondrous moment.

Description of the sailboat butterfly

A large percentage of the daytime butterflies that exist in nature belong to the “cavaliers” family, otherwise called “sailboats”. It has absorbed about seven hundred species, classified into twenty genera. The sailboat butterfly differs from other diurnal insects in the special shape of the hind wings: the edge that should be in contact with the abdomen is cut in a graceful arc, in addition, most species have tails at the tips, the length of which varies.

Sailboats have andother features of the anatomical structure, for example, their caterpillars are the owners of a unique organ - the fork-shaped sac-shaped gland or, called in another language, osmeteria. When the caterpillar is at rest, it cannot be seen, but as soon as the future butterfly feels threatened, the organ will immediately appear. If you click on it, a foul-smelling secret will be highlighted.

Alexanor

Very beautiful butterfly sailboat with an extremely fast, almost elusive flight. The body reaches thirty-two millimeters in length. The wings are clearly marked with black stripes decorating a variegated, yellow background, as well as a continuous blue band running along the hindwings. It lives in abundance in the southern part of Europe, loves the flowering slopes of the mountains, especially the thistle growing on them.

Feeds on a plant called "fennel", does not disdain other umbrella plants. Can be seen from April to July. She survives the winter as a chrysalis. The appearance of the alexanor is similar to the swallowtail, however, the second one has a black color at the base of the wings, and the tails on the lower parts are longer.

Apollo

Very extravagant insects, called Apollos, also belong to the family of sailboats, they do not have tails on the lower part of the wings. This genus included fifty species, most of which, due to geographical dispersion, in particular, high in the mountains, separated into isolated populations, scientists assigned them the status of a subspecies.

Apollo butterflies live in Europe, are found in Asia, are common in the western part of North America. However, a large percentage of individuals are concentrated in the middle and central parts of Asia. Only by climbing into the most inaccessible areas of the highlands, you can see the rarest and most beautiful Apollos. Each insect of this subspecies can be safely called a "butterfly sailboat". Photos of these wonderful creatures can be found in the article.

Cressida

For the first time in history, these wonderful butterflies were described in the seventies of the eighteenth century by the Danish scientist Johann Christian Fabricsky. The man named this genus of insects in honor of the heroine of one of the ancient Greek mythological legends - Chryseis, who was the daughter of the priest of the god Apollo - Chris.

The sailboat butterfly, called cressida, is the only representative of the genus. As a rule, females are pale in color compared to males, due to the fact that the former, after numerous flights, lose most of the scales containing a special pigment. It also gives the wings a bright color. Males are less mobile, and therefore the color of their wings is richer. Both butterflies and caterpillars of this genus are very poisonous, due to the fact that the latter eat kirkazon plants that grow in coastal regions, as well as in places where the forest grows in rare rows. Cressida has been observed in New Guinea and also in Australia. As a rule, its flight is smooth and measured, but if it is frightened, it will quickly disappear from view.

Podaliriy

Butterfly is a sailboat of large size, reaches forty millimeters in length, andwingspan of all seventy. The wings are painted in a soft cream color, crossed out by a row of wedge-shaped stripes, the tips of the hind wings are decorated with long tails. The pattern on the upper and lower sides of the wings is relatively the same, the flight is quite fast, provided that the butterfly makes graceful, smooth flaps.

Podalirium lives not only in warm, but also in hot regions of Asia and Europe. It is found in fairly open areas, in forests with enough light, as well as in gardens. Among the butterflies fluttering over the hills, most of them are males. Caterpillars live and feed on hawthorn and thorns, they love plums and other fruit trees, their growth rate is very fast, only a month passes, and future butterflies complete the last molt. Adult individuals do not change their habitat, lead a sedentary lifestyle. Years are carried out in May and June, the appearance of another generation is not excluded, and then podaliria can be observed from July to August. They hibernate as pupae.