Not tonight, I'm closing my wings: How female butterflies avoid the attention of over-zealous males

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Scientists have found that female butterflies keep their wings closed when they do not want male attention


When being chased by a man, women have a number of techniques to show they are simply not interested.

Now scientists have discovered that butterflies also have a tell-tale sign.

A team in Japan has found that females of the species closed their wings when they want to avoid unwanted male attention.

They say that by folding away the wings, which often have striking patterns, they are less visible to males.

The research was carried out by the Kurume Institute of Technology in Fukuora and published in the journal Ethology.

The head of the team, Jun-Ya Ide, noticed during analysis of small copper butterflies that they often closed their wings when others flew nearby.

He decided this required further investigation so used a male model to trigger a reaction in the females.


Female small copper butterflies only mate once during their lifetime


He at first believed that the closure of wings was used to avoid the harassment of males.

But as the small copper butterflies only have sex once in their entire life, he then used the model with females who had mated.

'When I brought the model close to a mated female, she often closed the wings,' he told BBC Nature.

He then tried with virgin females of the species and discovered that they left their wings open.

'I concluded that, since females don't need more copulations, they close their wings to conceal themselves,' Dr Ide added.

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The leaning tower of butterflies: Mass of Monarchs in Mexico makes the heart flutter with joy

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER


Making a comeback: This colony of Monarch butterflies, pictured congregating on a tree in the Pedro Herrada sanctuary on a mountain in the Mexican state of Michoacan, has doubled in size


Colony numbers double a year after storm devastated population


Their numbers were devastated a year ago when severe storms hit their colonies.

But now the Monarch butterfly has made a spectacular comeback having more than DOUBLED in size this winter.

Despite the growth, however, the migrating insect remains under threat.

Millions of butterflies make a 2,000-mile journey each year from Canada to winter in central Mexico's warmer weather but the size of that migration can vary wildly.

Fewer of the orange and black insects arrived in Mexico last year than ever before, researchers said, but the butterfly colonies increased by 109 per cent this year to cover roughly 10 acres of forest.

Researchers estimate the size of the butterfly colonies based on the area they occupy in a forest.

'Certainly this is good news and indicates a recovering trend,' said Omar Vidal, director of the Mexico branch of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).


Communal creatures: The butterflies, resting on a bush, remain under threat after their numbers were decimated last year


But while the monarch colonies rebounded this winter, it is still the fourth-lowest year for the butterfly since researchers started census-taking in 1993.

Illegal loggers have picked away roughly 3 percent of a 138,000 acre reserve since it was created in 2000 but officials say they now have that illicit harvest under control.

Severe winter weather linked to climate change is more of a long-term threat, along with large-scale farming that crowds out the milkweed that the butterflies dine on during their cross-continental flight.


One for all and all for one: The Monarchs emigrate 2,000 miles to Mexico to winter in the warmer climate


'The caterpillars feed on milkweed so changing soil use in the United States and Canada is definitely having an impact on the butterflies,' said Vidal, who helps manage the authoritative study on monarch populations in Mexico.

Michoacan state is home to the country's monarch butterfly reserve as well as many violent drug gangs that have carved smuggling routes through the often-arid terrain.

While the government is confronting drug gangs on many fronts, smugglers are not inhibiting conservation work, one official said.


Fresh foliage:A file photograph from 2009 shows the Monarch butterflies gathering on a tree branch at the reserve


'We are being a bit more careful but have not had any security incident to date,' said Humberto Gabriel Reyes, who oversees the butterfly reserve for the federal commission for protected areas.

While the uptick in butterfly numbers is heartening, U.S. researcher Lincoln Brower said the insects are still susceptible to harsh conditions.

'The weather conditions we saw last year were among our worst-case scenario,' said Brower, 79, of Sweet Briar College in Virginia who has studied the monarch butterflies since the 1950s.

'If there were more harsh weather in Texas or more forest loss in the Mexican reserves, the butterflies could be tested even more severely,' said Brower who was one of the first researchers to see the Mexican overwinter sites after they were identified by scientists in 1975.


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Last flight of our endangered butterflies: Native species being forced from their natural habitats

By DAVID DERBYSHIRE

Butterfly effect: The loss of the High Brown Fritillary would affect the ecosystyem


Some of our most beautiful and popular butterflies could vanish from the countryside within years, experts warn.

Thirty-seven per cent of native species are either under threat of extinction or have already died out, a study shows.

They have been so badly hit by the rise of intensive farming and loss of habitats that they are now faring worse than any other group of domestic wildlife.

As butterflies determine the health of the environment, conservationists say their decline affects other wildlife.

The warning came as the Butterfly Conservation charity published a list of the 23 species that are endangered or already extinct.

A further 11 of our 72 butterflies are rated as ‘near threatened’, so only about half are considered safe.

The list includes the high brown fritillary, which has seen numbers drop by 85 per cent over ten years.


The handsome speckled insect once bred in woods in Wales and the South.


However, it is now found in just 30 small colonies in the South West, South Wales and Cumbria. Another endangered species is the large blue. It was wiped out in the 1970s, but has been reintroduced to chalky hillsides in the South West.

Its caterpillars mimic the scent of red ant grubs to fool worker ants into taking them into the nest. Once inside, the caterpillars eat the ant grubs.

Butterfly Conservation spokesman Richard Fox said: ‘The new Red List shows that the number of butterflies in need of help has increased dramatically in the past ten years.


Sight for sore eyes: White Letter Hairstreak Stryminidia butterfly


‘We have seen conservationists bring the large blue back from extinction.

‘But there is much more we need to do to secure the future. They are our heritage.’

The Red List is based on data collected by thousands of volunteers organised by the charity and Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Oxfordshire.

Butterflies suffer from the loss of grasslands rich in wild flowers and poorer quality of woodlands. Pesticides and intensive farming are also to blame.

According to studies, 21 per cent of dragonfly species, 29 per cent of birds and 20 per cent of plants are endangered in the UK.


Rare sight: Large Blue butterfly feeding on wild thyme


Research confirms that butterflies are faring worse than dragonflies, birds and plants, with 37% of Britain's 59 native species considered regionally extinct or threatened.

This compares to 21% of dragonflies, 29% of birds and 20% of plants. A further 11 butterfly species are classified as 'near threatened' in the new list, leaving fewer than half (45 per cent) of Britain's butterflies safe - for now.

The figures are the result of a major re-assessment of the state of British butterfly populations using the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) 'red list' approach.


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Butterflies soar again: Public count shows decline is reversed

By Fay Schlesinger

On the up: The Small Tortoiseshell, which are often attacked by a parasite, are set to flourish again


Two butterflies which have suffered a severe decline have revived to flourish again, the biggest count of its kind has shown.

The Small Tortoiseshell came under attack from a parasitic fly which caused numbers to drop by more than 80 per cent.

But it made the top ten list of butterflies spotted by members of the public last month


The orange Gatekeeper, which has suffered a run of extremely bad years, surprised experts by ranking number three, with 29,000 sightings in the UK – one in six of the total.

A rise in city habitats has helped the boom, with people taking greater care to plant window boxes and allow long grass and flowers to grow.

The results came from the first Big Butterfly Count, in which more than 10,000 people across the UK carried out 15-minute observations in gardens, parks and fields, spotting 187,000 butterflies over one week between July 24 and August 1.

The count showed that the most common species is the Small White, closely followed by its relative the Large White.

Other widespread butterflies were the Meadow Brown, Common Blue, Peacock, Green-veined White, Red Admiral and Ringlet.

Despite positive results overall, the Butterfly Conservation group, which ran the survey, warned that the situation remains dire, with 70 per cent of British species in decline and half threatened with extinction.


Surprising: The orange Gatekeeper has had a run of bad years, but ranked in at number three in the count





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Half of UK's butterfly species 'threatened with extinction'

By Daily Mail Reporter

A very rare Purple Emperor butterfly, without it's usual markings. Many of the UK's common and garden butterfly species could be in decline


Half of the UK's common and garden butterfly species are threatened with extinction, conservationists warned today.

Numbers have hit an all-time low in the past three years as bad summer weather compounded long-term problems such as more intensive farming in the past 50 years.

Wildlife charity Butterfly Conservation said that seven out of 10 species of the insect are in decline in the UK.

Fragmentation of habitat is also making it difficult, particularly for rarer species, to move around, isolating and damaging populations.

Richard Fox, surveys manager at Butterfly Conservation, said more common butterflies such as red admirals and peacock butterflies are much more mobile than rare species, but could also be affected by changes to their habitat.

Species like the meadow brown and small blue are much less widespread than they would have been 50 years ago.

Butterflies which visit gardens, using them as 'motorway service stations' to feed in while breeding elsewhere, are not helped by gardening fashions such as putting down decking or paving over front lawns for driveways.

The loss of gardens to development and practices of 'tidying up' parks, roadside verges and wasteland damages wildlife by removing habitats, he said.


A peacock butterfly which are the longest-lived butterflies in Britain, with adults surviving from late July, well into the following spring


Butterfly Conservation is urging the public to spend quarter of an hour in a garden, park or field this week - July 24 to August 1 - and make a note of the species of any butterfly they see there as well as day-flying moths such as hummingbird hawk-moths.

The conservation group hopes the information will help build up a better picture of the fortunes of the country's butterflies, and give an indication of the wider health of our nature world.

Mr Fox said it is very difficult to monitor common species found in private gardens and urban areas, and appealed to members of the public to help gather more information about butterflies in towns, cities and gardens.

The information will show if this year's warm, sunny summer has allowed butterfly numbers to recover, as well as record species moving north as the climate changes and even colonising cities where they were previously not found.

'Reports suggest numbers of many garden species and common or widespread species are down so far this year but the warm weather will have benefited them,' he said.

'We have this background of long-term decline for the majority of butterfly species, both rare and common and garden species.

'This year by recent standards we had a long hot spell for whole of June which, compared to the last few summers, was amazing and will have benefited the butterflies that were out and about at that time,' he said, adding that most of the butterflies out in late spring and early summer were scarcer species.

Sir David Attenborough, president of Butterfly Conservation, which is running the count in partnership with Marks & Spencer, said: 'Butterflies are extraordinary, heart-lifting creatures - visions of beauty and visions of summer.

'Butterflies in profusion tell us that all is well with nature. When they decline it's a warning that other wildlife will be soon heading the same way.

'So with the big butterfly count we will be doing more than just counting butterflies - we'll be taking the pulse of nature.'


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I've got my eye on you! The caterpillar that pretends to be a fearsome snake

By Daily Mail Reporter

This small caterpillar with bold yellow and blue markings scares off its predator


At first glance it may look like a fearsome snake but this rearing creature is actually a small caterpillar with a cunning means of defence.

The Spicebush Swallowtail has evolved a large pair of false eyespots and bold yellow and blue markings to frighten off potential predators.

The brightly coloured insect, which is only a few inches long, was snapped by wildlife biologist Jonathan Mays in Maine, U.S.

He was photographing the striking caterpillars and the large black and orange butterflies they turn into in a red maple forest.

Mr Mays, said: 'Swallowtail caterpillars are beautiful creatures. They strike a sense of wonder from many observers.

'Swallowtails have spots on their head that mimic snake eyes and are amazing to view.

'The disguise is very lifelike, so much so that even the reflection or eye-shine changes when viewed from different angles.

'The habitat was a spicebush stand amidst a red maple forest. I was at this site looking specifically for the caterpillars.'


The caterpillar can also emit a pungent scene if a predator gets too close


The photographs show two different Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillars.

One was found moving to a new feeding position while another was spotted inside its leaf retreat.

The caterpillars also have a few other tricks to keep them safe. When they first hatch out, the tiny caterpillars look like little brown bird droppings. They spend most of the day folded up inside leaves as they develop.


The caterpillar turns into a striking black and orange butterfly


Finally the caterpillar has a forked, fleshy organ just above its head, which it can use to emit a disagreeable odor, should a predator get too close.

Mr Mays said: 'I'm pleased with the photographs. The sharp angles and depth of field really accentuate the eye spots and each picture demonstrates a different reflection.'

The caterpillars live in folded leaf shelters and eat the leaves of the sassafras or spicebush. Adults consume a variety of nectars, including those from azalea, Japanese honeysuckle, milkweed, and thistle flowers.


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Pictured: The day a butterfly took on a sharp-toothed cayman... and WON!

By Daily Mail Reporter

Brave: The butterfly nonchalantly landed on the snout of a hungry cayman, blissfully unaware of the danger


This brave butterfly took its life into its own hands when it landed on the snout of a hungry cayman.

The ferocious reptile, which is very similar to an alligator, was lying on a river bank basking in the morning sun when the orange-coloured insect came to rest.

Unruffled, the cayman let the butterfly make its way from the end of its snout up to its eyes before fluttering off.


Friends: The caymen let the butterfly creep all the way up its snout before resting between his eyes

The remarkable sight was snapped by amateur photographer Stefan Huwiler during a trip to the Pantanal wetlands in Brazil.

The 41 year old spotted the beasts one evening but then returned the next morning in better light to capture some shots.

He said: 'Early one morning I saw several caymans lying on a river bank.

'I decided to go back the next morning in the hope of finding the caymans there again so I could get some head shots.

'Just after sunrise I went down there and to my delight I found the animals still there, lying next to each other.

'I had no experience with reptiles but I went quite close to them so I could get good pictures of their heads.

'Then I saw a butterfly coming very close to one of the caymans - I felt like all my luck had come at once.

'The insect landed on the cayman's nose and then went up to its eyes. It was so exciting.' Mr Huwiler, from Zug, in Switzerland, said he immediately dashed back to his base to check the pictures, which were taken on film.

He added: 'For me, the experience was one of the most beautiful moments of nature.

'Wildlife photography is an incredible journey of discovery with unlimited possibilities.'


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Britain's rare butterflies put to flight by rain-soaked summers of the last three years

By David Derbyshire

The washout summers of the last three years have brought Britain’s most endangered butterflies to the brink of extinction, a study reveals.

Two of the UK’s rarest species – the Duke of Burgundy and Lulworth skipper – had their worst years on record in 2009, according to the annual survey by Butterfly Conservation.

Other endangered butterflies, such as the wood white and pearlbordered fritillary, have also hit new lows, the charity warns.

Butterflies are unable to fly if the rain is too heavy, and were badly hit by last year’s wet July and August, which followed two abysmally wet summers in 2007 and 2008.

The findings, which come from a study of butterflies at more than 1,000 sites, show that the Duke of Burgundy had its worst year in more than 30 years. The orange, brown and white butterfly used to be a common sight in woodland clearings.

However, it has been damaged by changes in farming and woodland management over the last half a century, leading numbers to drop by a staggering 60 per cent in the last 20 years.

The orange and brown Lulworth skipper – one of Britain’s smallest butterflies – also suffered its worst 12 months last year.

Numbers have fallen 78 per cent in 18 years, the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme run by Butterfly Conservation and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology showed.

Other rare species including the pearl-bordered fritillary, the high brown fritillary and the wood white are continuing to struggle after severe declines since the 1970s.

Dr Tom Brereton, Butterfly Conservation’s head of monitoring, said: ‘We are particularly concerned about the Duke of Burgundy.

‘At the start of the century, there were about 200 colonies in the country. This number has now more than halved – and most colonies that remain are small. It is a serious situation.’

Butterfly Conservation said the creatures made only a ‘modest recovery’ after their worst summer for 25 years in 2008.

The bad weather over the past few years has compounded longterm problems facing insects. They have suffered from the loss of grasslands rich in wild flowers, while pesticides and intensive farming have also hit their numbers.

Conservationists warn that if butterfly numbers are falling, other wildlife will also be in decline.


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2009 was good for butterflies, but bad for the cuckoo

By Luke Salkeld

Strong numbers: Butterflies will have hibernated well during the cold winter, which means they will be out in force next year
has been disappointing for staycationers and somewhat slippery for Christmas shoppers.

But while this year's weather wasn't great for we humans, there have been mixed blessings for the country's wildlife.

Butterflies and some other types of insect saw their numbers soar, but cuckoos, daddy longlegs, bats and beetles fared less well.

Although the wet summers of 2007 and last year, coupled with mild winters, disturbed the natural hibernation and breeding cycles of several plants and animals, this year's dry summer helped repair a lot of the damage.

Matthew Oates, of the National Trust, said that while the UK did not bask in the 'barbecue summer' promised by the Met Office, the weather was better than the previous two years.

A third 'rotten' summer would have done serious damage to even more species, he added.

Purple emperor butterflies are among the species to have benefited from the coldest weather for years, allowing them to hibernate as caterpillars to emerge strongly in the summer.


Gone: Cuckoos have disappeared altogether from some areas as a result of recent weather patterns


Painted lady butterflies were also seen migrating in their millions and it was a good year for seven spot ladybirds.

'Many insects managed to hibernate properly, instead of being constantly woken up by unseasonably mild days,' said Mr Oates.

'This year has stopped the rot and a lot of wildlife has started to get its way back up the ladder - but we still need a good summer in 2010.' But despite this it has not all been good news for British wildlife.

Along with other birds, choughs in Cornwall and Pembrokeshire struggled to feed in the face of frozen ground in February and Dartford warblers also suffered.

The number of cuckoos has also fallen sharply in the past 12 months, with the bird disappearing from some areas altogether.

Mr Oates said the fall could be down to a variety of reasons including a lack of their favourite food, hairy caterpillars, which in turn have been affected by the poor weather. Earlier this year, the cuckoo was added to the 'Red List' of the UK's most threatened birds.

Only between 10,000 and 20,000 breeding pairs now migrate from Africa each year.
And scientists are also trying to pinpoint why the daddy longlegs - or common cranefly - has gone missing.

What is clear, however, is that its disappearance is likely to have a huge effect on bat numbers because they rely on the insect for food.


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