Holly Blue caterpillars feeding on Holly, being supervised by Lasius niger ants. As with some other Lycaenid butterflies, the caterpillars produce a sugary reward to keep the ants around, and provide an incentive for them to protect it.
Max Anderson
@maxando.bsky.social
PhD 🦋 Ecologist with a particular interest in butterflies and their early life stages. Currently traveling the world.
The last week of sunny weather has brought out the worst in these lecherous male Brimstones. They gave no peace to the female as she went about laying eggs on the nearby Alder Buckthorn
A handful of Brown Hairstreak caterpillars from a quick search in Exeter over the weekend. They seem to be very well distributed across the city, finding Blackthorn and Bullace in parks, graveyards and urban copses.
A Silver-studded Blue caterpillar in the company of its symbiotic Lasius niger ants at Wheal Maid last Sunday.
There's still some way to go for a few White-letter Hairstreaks, while most are close to pupation. Some Elms are late in development, so the caterpillars have been sat dormant, waiting for the tree to pull its finger out! Some have barely moved since hatching, with their exuviae visible nearby.
Spot the Purple Hairstreak caterpillar! During the day, they're usually tucked up tight amongst the Oak buds and flower stalks, where their camouflage really comes into play.
A meagre haul from the garden #moth trap last night in Devon with 13 of 10 spp., and my first cockchafer for the year. I did, however, come away happy with a tasty Chocolate-tip!
Orange-tips really kicked off during the warm period this week. Watched females peruse the stunningly beautiful Cuckoo Flower and lay some eggs.
A special moment I'll never forget! A Large Tortoiseshell on my garden wall in Exmouth, Devon, basking in the evening sun. Without doubt one of the most exciting #butterfly experiences I've had! @savebutterflies.bsky.social @bcdevon.bsky.social
Don't panic everyone, the White-letter Hairstreaks are out again! I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing this. Going to be checking for presence at some new sites this spring here in East Devon. All praise the UV torch! @bcdevon.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social
Pearl-bordered fritillary caterpillars are coming along nicely in Devon. Spent the day at Haldon Forest, poking around pockets of violets along the broken edges of bracken litter @bcdevon.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social
Excited to see one of my PhD chapters now published! We found a trade-off between the quality of host plants and how warm they were for a declining grassland butterfly (Small Copper, Lycaena phlaeas) and looked at how this shaped their egg-laying choices: doi.org/10.1111/een....
This Green Dragontail has to be up there with one of the most ostentatious butterflies here in Borneo. The transparent sections of the forewing, and those tails!
After I spotted this extremely rare Allotinus brooksi butterfly in Borneo, I was amazed to find what looked like midges on its underwing. Not just one or two, but a whopping eight! Not something I've ever seen before!
Super excited to find the incredibly rare, Allotinus brooksi in Sabah, Borneo! Over 110 years after this impressive butterfly was first discovered and collected in Sarawak, it was spotted for the first time in 2021, here in Sabah!
Common Mapwing from the island of Koh Chang, Thailand. You can see where these stunning but flighty butterflies get their name. They're often found taking up nutrients from damp ground near open streams and waterfalls.
The immature stages of many Lepidoptera are known to fluoresce when showered with UV radiation - but what is the evolutionary advantage of doing this? An article, by Ben Greenaway, may explain why: www.dispar.org/reference.ph.... Purple Emperor pre-pupation larva and pupa photos below.
Between 2014 & 2016, I studied the Chequered Skipper in Scotland. One memorable encounter was watching a larva spin silk between the edges of a leaf. As silk dries, it contracts, and this pulled the leaf edges together to create a protective tube. Amazing! More at www.dispar.org/reference.ph...
New, innovative approaches have made finding and monitoring Purple Hairstreak larvae far easier. Using UV torchlight can help to better understand the ecology, distribution, population density and dynamics of this incredible species, amongst others!
UK Butterflies@ukbutterflies.bsky.social · 2y agoOne of our best examples of camouflage is found in the Purple Hairstreak larva, which has evolved to look like an oak bud, making them extremely difficult to locate. Early entomologists advised that the easiest way to find larvae was by touch, rather than sight!
While in Southern Laos last week, I had a look around some Ziziphus jujuba on the side of a path and found some eggs and caterpillars of the Common Pierrot butterfly. Great fun!
This remarkable Lycaenid butterfly from Northern Thailand is the Fluffy Tit, Hypolycaena amasa. Just look at those outrageous tails!
Semi-open riparian forest and forest edge habitats here in Northern Thailand are amazing places for butterflies. The abundance and diversity is so refreshing to see.
We've spent a few days hiking in Northern Thailand, and it's been so rewarding to stumble across some of the most stunning butterflies.
Behold, the imposing, Indian Purple Emperor. Here in Northern Thailand, they descend to take up minerals from the rocky banks of a stream, starting a fight with almost anything that passes by.
Common Pierrot, from Northern Vietnam. The adults are pretty chilled out and a bit less flighty than many other Lycaenids tend to be. Stunning little butterfly.
Here's the caterpillar of Bigg's Brownwing butterfly from Vietnam, which feed on aphids. They're often found being carefully chaperoned and inspected by ants, which farm the aphids for honeydew.
This is Bigg's Brownwing, Miletus biggsii, an amazing butterfly from Vietnam. As a caterpillar, they eat aphids!
Three Tawny Coster butterflies (Acraea terpsicore) settling in for the evening in Southern Vietnam.
