Date Posted:18:36:33 04/30/06 Sun Author:Beverly Subject: Red Spotted Purple
The Red Spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis) is one of our prettiest butterflies.
When I first spotted this individual, taking a drink from the wet soil and stones near my basement door (butterflies 'drink' from wet sand or mud), I thought it was a spicebush swallowtail, but on closer inspection, this butterfly does not have the classic 'swallowtail'. In its common name, 'Red Spotted Purple', the red spots are not so much evident on the dorsal side of the wings, but on the ventral side. I had to follow the butterfly, until he landed again, to catch this photo, with his wings 'folded up':
IMHO, I'd be more inclined to call this a 'Red Spotted Black and Blue', but perhaps that sounds a bit too violent for the world of lepidopterology - the study of moths and butterflies. (Actually, I think 'Orange Spotted Black and Blue' would be a more accurate description ... but I'm not a lepidopterist ... and nobody asked me, anyway ... lol!)
Seeing the deep orange spots on the 'underside' made me wonder if this was the same butterfly as the black and turquoise creature I thought I'd followed! One of the interesting things about butterflies is how different they can look, 'top' (dorsal side) compared to 'bottom' (ventral side). In many Red Spotted Purples, there are faint red spots on the dorsal side of the upper wings; near the outer edge of the tips, but in some, the red spots are not seen 'topside', at all.
Butterflies often 'mimic' other things, in order to escape predators. In the Red Spotted Purple, some lepodopterists believe this mimicry is exemplified by the colour and pattern seen in the Red Spotted Purple, which is similar in appearance to the Pipevine Swallowtail. As a caterpillar, the Pipevine Swallowtail dines on the leaves of the Dutchman's pipe and its cousin, the Virginia snakeroot (Aristolochia serpentaria). Plants of the Pipevine family are poisonous to many animals. The caterpillar is not affected by the poison, but any birds that eat the adult butterfly are poisoned. Thus, birds have 'learned' to avoid the Pipevine Swallowtail. By having many of the same colours and patterns of the pipevine, several non-poisonous-when-consumed butterflies gain some protection from predatory birds.
To paraphrase a recent commercial, 'What's in YOUR backyard?!?"
