Female White Admiral Butterfly
by J McCombie
Title
Female White Admiral Butterfly
Artist
J McCombie
Medium
Photograph - Untouched
Description
This piece has been featured in the FAA Groups: "Macro Photography Only", and "Groovy Butterflies".
One of the most beautiful butterflies to grace our garden each summer is the white admiral (Limenitis arthemis - Alternate Scientific Names: Basilarchia arthemis), named for the broad white median bands on its black wings, the hindwing marked with a marginal row of blue dashes and a submarginal row of red dots. The forewings are dark brown or black. At the margin there is a chain of little black spots. There is a chain of white spots, which is crossing the wing. The underside is orange and brown. The chain of white spots and the chain of black spots from upside are also there. The hind wings are dark brown or black. The margin is ridged. At the margin there are two chains of little black spots. There is a broad white band on the wing. The underside is orange and brown. At the margin there are two chains of black spots. The broad white band from upside is also there. Around the body there is a white and bluish area. The body is white and bluish, but from upside it is black. Wing Span: 2 1/4 - 4 inches (5.7 - 10.1 cm). (There is another form of this same species called the red-spotted purple butterfly and the two variants hybridize where their ranges overlap.)
The female is slightly larger than the male and is dark brown and the white band is broader than the white band from male. The male is black.
Range: Alaska and subarctic Canada southeast of the Rocky Mountains to central Texas; east to New England and central Florida. Isolated populations in Arizona, New Mexico, and west Texas south into Mexico. The White Admiral form usually occurs north of a line through north central New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Minnesota. The Red-spotted Purple form is usually found south of this line. Much hybridization occurs where these forms meet. Comments: The Red-spotted Purple is a mimic of the poisonous Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor).
Elected by popular vote in 1998, the white admiral is Quebec’s official insect. It was in competition with four candidates: the spotted ladybird beetle, the ebony jewelwing, the Eastern bumblebee and the six-spotted tiger beetle. The white admiral won with 32% of votes. Dozens of white admirals sometimes gather together on wet soil. They are males who have detected the presence of sodium, an element that is essential to successful reproduction.
The list of larval host plants for white admirals includes: red oaks (Quercus), yellow birches (Betula), willows (Salix), aspens, wild cherry (Prunus), poplar, cottonwood (Populus), hawthorn (Crataegus), deerberry (Vaccinium stamineum), basswood (Tilia), shadbush (Amelanchier) and serviceberries. The adults feed on sap flow, rotting fruit – we often see them foraging on overripe blueberries, aphid honeydew, carrion, dung and the nectar from small white flowers, including spireas, privets, viburnums, and summersweet clethra.
The white admiral survives the winter as a small immature caterpillar enclosed within a leafy shelter on one of its preferred host trees. The larva chooses the leaf that will be its winter home in late summer, firmly attaching it to a twig with threads of silk to keep it from falling off the tree in autumn. When ready to pupate, the inch-long caterpillar aligns itself with the midrib of the leaf blade, chews off the end and most of the sides of the leaf, then pulls what remains around its body, forming a small tube held together with more threads of silk. The young larva sleeps through the winter in its leafy cocoon, protected from subzero temperatures by remaining in a state of deep diapause, completing its larval growth in spring.
Uploaded
June 18th, 2017
Statistics
Viewed 508 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/25/2024 at 3:55 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet
