 |
| No, this picture is not upside down. The butterfly is hanging upside down. |
I keep seeing what I think is the same American snout
butterfly (Libytheana carinenta) in our front yard. I’m not sure what is attracting it, since
there are no hackberry trees in our yard, and I don’t know of any nearby. It may just be drinking from the
lantanas. I’ve heard that these butterflies can appear
in great numbers during migrations in the fall.
But this one seems to be alone (although there might be a few others
around that I haven’t seen). At any rate,
it’s not part of a mass migration, during which adult American snout butterflies can darken the sky with their numbers and their larvae can strip
hackberry trees almost bare, though the trees usually make more leaves and
recover. The elongated mouthparts
(labial palpi) give this butterfly what looks like a giant nose. It’s one of my favorite butterflies, both for
its strange appearance and its willingness to let the human viewer get up close
to observe it.
 |
| I'm not sure why this butterfly is interested in these overripe lantana "berries," either. |
No comments:
Post a Comment