Blue Morpho (Morpho menelaus)

Originating in South America, the gorgeous metallic, blue-green hues of the Morpho menelaus butterfly has made it a hugely popular one  – it is one of the most commonly displayed butterflies in the world, and is often the base for inspiration for jewellery and art.  There are in fact over 80 species in the Morpho genus – and not all Morpho butterflies have that amazing blue colour, the Sunset Morpho (Morpho hecuba) for example is in melting tones of orange, russet and dark brown.  Nevertheless the Blue Morpho seems to be by far the most enchanting of the species – just imagine how sublime it would be to be surrounded by a rabble of these shimmering butterflies.  By the way, that shimmering is due to the iridescent nature of the scales that cover the Morpho’s wings, and not the pigmentation alone.

The Green Birdwing
(Ornithoptera priamus poseidon)

The Green Birdwing (Ornithoptera priamus poseidon) is part of the large group of birdwing butterflies which are named such thanks to their huge size (up to a maximum body length of 7.6 cm or 3 inches and a wingspan of 28 cm or 11 inches), their more angular wings and birdlike flying pattern.  Having never seen one in real life, for me the idea of a butterfly being as large as an A4 sheet of paper just blows my mind.   The other great things I like about the Green Birdwing is that it has a wonderful large yellow body – quite different from most butterflies and the markings on its wings are rather lovely.  These butterflies originate in the Pacific around Southeast Asia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Australia.

Zebra Swallowtail
(Eurytides marcellus)

After butterflies, my next favourite animal is a zebra, so mix the two together and what’s not to like! This is a truly delightful butterfly – graceful looking and delicate (indeed the upper parts of the wings are almost totally clear and you can see right through them).  There are at least 550 species of swallowtail butterfly) – all of them distinctive for their long tailed lower wings!  The Zebra Swallowtail is mostly found in the eastern Untied States, northeast Mexico and southeast Canada – and it is the official state butterfly of Tennessee.  I think its fabulous striped black and white markings with that flash of red at the base of the lower wings makes it a great favourite for arts and crafts projects – you could play around with the monochrome effect sapping the white areas for other colours, rather like a Warhol print.

Comet Moth (Argema mittrei)

Although technically a moth, the Comet certainly deserves a place in the list of favourite butterflies.  It’s beautiful markings, long distinctive tails and wonderful buttery yellow colour are just a few reasons why I find the Comet so inspiring.  Like so many extraordinary creatures, Comet Months are found only in certain parts of Madagascar – and they only live for 4 to 5 days after emerging from their cocoons.  A rare and beautiful sight indeed!

Butterfly Paintings

My final favourite butterfly is not a real one! I just loved as a kid doing butterfly paintings – and now look forward to doing them with my nieces.  All you need is a large piece of paper and some poster paint. Fold the paper in half landscape ways and then simply apply different blobs of colourful paint in a random pattern (roughly the shape of one side of a butterfly) but just on one side of the paper! Finally before the paint dries, fold the paper back again and then carefully unfold it to reveal the symmetrical butterfly wings – when the paint is dried, add a head, body and antenna to finish your butterfly.

There are four stages in a butterfly’s life cycle.

The first stage is when the insect is just a tiny egg.  Butterfly eggs vary in shape and size depending on the type of butterfly – they can be round, oval or cylindrical.  You will usually find butterfly eggs on plant leaves or stems, usually on a plant that the butterfly knows will be food for its future offspring.  Nothing much happens during the egg stage – nothing visible anyway – but just like human babies in the womb inside the egg a tiny caterpillar is growing.

The second stage is the caterpillar or larva stage – the egg hatches to reveal a small worm-like caterpillar.  At this stage the future butterfly looks nothing like a butterfly – in fact, if humans hadn’t observed these different stages no one would even guess that a caterpillar had anything to do with a butterfly! Whilst caterpillars can cover quite some distance on the ground, from plant to plant, on the whole they stay close to where they were hatched. The caterpillar’s job is to eat and grow, and learn about its surroundings. During this stage, as it eats and grows, the caterpillar sheds its skin several times to make room for all these growth spurts.  Just like human children, caterpillars grow at an alarming rate!

The third stage is the chrysalis or pupa stage.  Once the caterpillar has grown to its optimum size, it locates a comfortable place to rest and cocoons itself entirely in a skin-like silk cover.  Inside this cover a miraculous transformation takes place – the caterpillar tissue disintegrates and the butterfly’s body and wings grow.  This stage is a bit like how teenagers often retreat to their rooms for a few years, experiment with different attitudes, clothes and hairstyles, and then eventually come out again as young fairly well formed adults!  The difference is that for butterflies this stage only takes a few weeks!

The final stage is the adult or imago stage, when the beautiful butterfly emerges from the chrysalis.  The butterfly is now ready to really explore the world, takes flight on its fresh wings and goes off in search of a mate and possibly a new place to live. In time the butterfly will also lay new eggs and so the cycle starts again. In the same way, human adults seem programmed to spend some time learning and growing before they are ready to explore their environment and be free to make their own way in the world.