David Element's Wildlife Web Page Butterflies 20

David Element

Wildlife Photography

and Digital Video Images

____ Butterflies 20 - Nymphalidae - Peacocks 1

PEACOCK BUTTERFLY Inachis io

PEACOCK BUTTERFLY LARVA Inachis io

This common and distinctive species is long-lived as an adult with a single generation each year. The underside is very dark and cryptically coloured in obvious contrast to the flash coloration and eyespots which the butterfly employs so effectively as a deterrent to predatory birds, etc. Peacock Butterflies enter into hibernation during August and reappear the following Spring (see second photograph), whereupon they mate and the females lay their eggs. The remaining stages of the life-history progress quite rapidly and clusters of young larvae are relatively easy to locate on Stinging Nettles. The older larvae tend to separate and the last picture shows a fully grown larva having a final snack prior to moving into a well protected place where it would then pupate. A curiosity is shown in the fourth photograph. A butterfly had possibly been disturbed during the delicate process of emergence, and as a consequence had been unable to shed part of the pupal shell. As is evident from the photograph, the abdomen has retained a pupal shape whereas the rest of the insect was of normal appearance. The remainder of the pupal shell is still attached - despite the position this would have housed the head, thorax and wing structures. This butterfly was capable of weak, fluttering flight, but it was presumably unable to reproduce or excrete and was surely doomed to a very short existance.

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