Butterflies of Luxembourg

 

On 27 September 2005, Luxembourg Post issued the stamp set features butterflies species which composed of three postage stamps. The issued stamps depicted species Swallowtail, Silver-washed fritillary, and Chalk-hill blue with different nominal face value.

 

Swallowtail (Papilio machaon)

The Swallowtail is among the most spectacular and largest of butterflies found in Luxembourg.The Swallowtail or Papilio machaon is species  of Papilionidae family.  The wings of the female can reach more than 9 cm in size. It is in the tropics that one most frequently sees the Papilioninae sub-family.

 

Mostly in springtime, the butterflies search for higher ground to carry out their famous “hill topping”, a type of nuptial flight that allows them to find a partner.

 

The flamed variety is an even rarer species that populates northern Europe. Two and sometimes three flights from April to September.

 

Hosts of Swallowtail’s caterpillar are various types of umbellifers. Pepper saxifrage, wild and garden carrots. The adult caterpillar of the swallowtail is easily recognizable by  its yellowish green dominant color  with transverse black bands highlighted with points of orange.

 

 

Silver-washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia)

 

The Silver-washed fritillary or Argynnis paphia is a relatively common butterfly in Luxembourg and as species of sub-family Nymphalinae. It is encountered in summer on sunny forest paths where it enjoys gypsywort.

 

The males are a luminous orange colour while the females are darker with greenish coloration. The females eventually become entirely green.

 

The Silver-washed fritillary flight in once   from June to August. The host of caterpillar are  varieties of violets and meadowsweet.

 

 

Chalk-Hill Blue (Lysandra coridon)

The chalk-hill blue  or Lysandra coridon is  among the varieties of butterflies  most frequently encountered and as a species of Lycaenidae family . They are found in almost every country area, primarily on the dry limestone pastures. The period of flight is once from July to August.

 

The males are known by their light whitish blue colouration while the females are brown with orange points on the lower edge of their back wings. In Luxembourg, it is the most recognizable argus butterfly and the host of caterpillar is Hippocreppis, a genus of ornamental plants in the family Fabaceae.

Hong Kong Butterflies II

 

Hong Kong Post released the butterfly stamp series on June 14,  2007. The issue stamps has depicted species Faunis eumeus, Prioneris philonome, Polyura Nepenthes, Acraea issoria, and Tajuria maculata.

 

The Faunis eumeus or large Faun is butterfly distributed  ranges from Assam to North Myanmar, the Shan States, Indo China, southern Yunnan, South China and Hong Kong.

Upperside of males and females is forewing maroon, with a very broad, oblique, preapical. Hindwing brown, shading to dark maroon anteriorly.Underside is maroon-brown.

 

This species is  belong to the Morphinae sub family of the Brush-footed butterfly family and quite widespread and can be found throughout the warmer months. 

 

 

 

The eggs are quite small, grey and spherical with ribbing.  The butterfly can be found in deep shade on open forest floor, resting on leaf humus.

 

 

Prioneris philonome or Redspot Sawtooth is a small butterfly of family Pieridae and found in Asia.This butterfly has distinctive such as the hind-wing basal two-third yellow, with a small red basal patch. The vein are prominently darkened.

 

Prioneris philonome is a forest butterfly may be seen in open spaces near water courses, gathering at moist spots or puddles in the company of other pierid species or papilionids. The males  are usually seen in one's and two's imbibing mineralised moisture from damp sand or gravel, often in the company of Appias lyncida, Eurema hecabe and other yellow Pieridae.

 

Prioneris are robust and powerful flyers, but nervous in nature. If disturbed they have a habit of instantly dashing off, only to resettle a few feet away, and if followed they then go back to their original feeding place.

 

Polyura Nepenthes is recorded to cover a vast area from Burma. Laos, N. Vietnam, Thailand and Central to Southern China.

Polyura nepenthes  relatively large in size among other species of the same genus. It is a strong flyer with striking white creamy colour in flight suffused with black margins on the forewings.

 

The two sexes of Polyura nepenthes do not fly low apart from feeding and tend to settle again and again on the same point high up in the trees. They will always fold their wings when they are not in flight.

 

 

The female is generally larger in comparison but resembles the other sex in appearance with the exception that the male has a totally white abdomen whereas the female is white and black beneath. Both sexes do not visit flowers and prefer rotten fruits, sap from trees in particular those of the citrus ones and animal dungs. They are found near streams and sometimes quite territorial.

 

In fact, Polyura nepenthes appear to be a new comer to Hong Kong. They appear to have flown into Hong Kong from the Mainland China in the last couple of years and have bred locally throughout Hong Kong.

 

Tajuria maculata , also known as the Spotted Royal, is a widespread oriental butterfly and ranges from the central Himalaya and northeastern India to South China, Indo-China, peninsular Malaysia and Borneo.

Tajuria maculata is a medium-sized Lycaenid. Wings of male have slightly shiny blue center, suffused with white towards the edge, and enclosed all round with a black margin. In females, most of the shiny blue is replaced by white, so that only a small amount of blues remains in the base of each wing.

 

 

The underside of both sexes is white, covered with irregular black spots. There are two prominent black spots at each hindwing tornus, adjacent to the two tails. Females are generally larger and broader than males.

Its flight is swift and erratic. It tends to fly around its host plant and will not wander far. It usually settles on the upperside of leaves and is usually easy to reach.

 

There was no sighting records of the butterfly feeding at flowers or at puddles.The butterfly is only recorded in two separate locations in Hong Kong in recent years, namely in Pok Fu Lam on the Hong Kong Island and Tai Po Kau in the New Territories.

 

 

Acraea issoria or The Yellow Coster,  is a small, leathery-winged butterfly, species of genus Acraea. Acraea is a genus of brush-footed butterflies (family Nymphalidae) of the subfamily Heliconiinae. It is common in Guangdong, north of the border.

It feeds on a variety of food plants notably Boehmeria novea  Gaudich of the Urticaceae family.

 

Recently, the butterfly has been seen in many places namely in Hok Tak and Chuen Lung. 

Most species of Acraea assembled  here are restricted to the African region, but some are found in India, Southeast Asia, and Australia.

 

 

A recent trip to Chuen Lung on 12th April 2003 by Yiu Vor and P.C. Lee had revealed a large population already established in Chuen Lung.  There were more than one hundred pupae and caterpillars on the Boehmeria along the bank of the stream behind the tea house.

 

The food plants of their caterpillars are usually Urticaceae or, like in most Heliconiinae, Passifloraceae.  Their preferred species contain cyanogenic glycosides, which make the larvae and adults poisonous to predators. The aposematic coloration of the adults announces this, and some species are mimicked by less noxious butterflies.

Bahamas Butterflies

 

 

The Bahamas Postal Administration has issued the butterfly stamp series features Zebra Longwing, Cloudless Sulphur, Julia, The Queen, Long-tailed skipper, and Gulf Fritillary on February 18, 2008. The issue stamps are six single postage stamps with different denomination value.

 

Zebra Longwing (Heliconius charitonius)

The zebra longwing or Heliconius charitonius is butterfly species belonging to the subfamily Heliconiinae of the Nymphalidae which has long, narrow wings.  Its wings are black with light yellow zebra-like stripes. It has long black antennae.

The zebra longwing butterfly can be found in the southern United States from Texas to Florida, Central America and northern South America.

The caterpillar has a white body with long black spines and a yellow head.The zebra longwing caterpillars eat the leaves of passion flowers (Yellow Passionflower, Corky-stemmed Passionflower and Two-flower Passionflower).

 

The adult butterfly drinks the nectar of a wide range of flowers and also eat pollen . Because of their relatively long lifespan and their activity throughout the day, this is a popular species with butterfly houses. When it is disturbed, the zebra longwing butterfly makes a creaking sound by wiggling its body.

 

 

Julia (Dryas julia carteri)

Dryas iulia (often  spelled julia), commonly called the Julia Butterfly,  is a species of brush-footed butterfly from Neotropic ecozone (South America) member of the family Nymphalidae.

 

 

 

Dryas julia carteri is one of the subspecies of Dryas julia. Its wingspan ranges from 82 – 92 mm and colored orange with black markings. This butterfly is fast flier and frequents clearings, paths and margins of forests and woodlands. The species is popular in butterfly houses because it is long-lived and active throughout the day.

 

Its feeds on the nectar of flowers, such as Lantana, Shepherd’s-needle. Meanwhile the caterpillar feeds on leaves of passion vine such as Passiflora affinis and Yellow Passionflower.

 

 

Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae)

 

The Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) is small to midsized butterfly in the family Pieridae. Its found in the Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas and Australasia. They are most common from Argentina to southern Texas and Florida.

 

 

The common habitat are open spaces, gardens, glades, seashores and watercourses. The adult feeds on nectar from many different flowers such as cordia, bougainvillea, cardinal flower, hisbicus, lantana and wild morning glory.

 

The male butterfly is clear yellow above and yellow or mottled with reddish brown below and the female is lemon-yellow to golden or white on both surfaces, with varying amounts of black spotting along the margin and a black open square or star on the bottom forewing. The Wingspan is ranges from 63 to 78 mm.

 

 

The Queen Butterfly (Danaus gilippus berenice)

 

The Queen Butterfly (Danaus gilippus) is a North and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae (the brush-foots) with a wingspan of 70–88mm.

 

 

It is orange or brown with black wing borders and small white forewing spots on its dorsal wing surface, and reddish ventral wing surface fairly similar to the dorsal surface. The ventral hind-wings have black veins and small white spots in a black border.

The caterpillar feeds on the milkweed and sequesters chemicals that make it distasteful to some predators. It then goes through six instars, after which the larva finds a suitable spot to pupate. The adult emerges 7 to 10 days afterwards. Danaus gilippus has multiple generations a year.

 

 

Long-tailed Skipper (Urbanus proteus)

The Long-tailed Skipper or Urbanus proteus is a spread-winged skipper butterfly  and found throughout tropical and subtropical America, south Argentina and north into southern part of USA.

 

 

 

It cannot live in areas with prolonged frost. It is a showy butterfly, with wings of light brown tinted with iridescent blue, and two long tails extending from the hind-wings. The robust body is light blue dorsally. It has a large head, prominent eyes, and a wingspan (4.5 – 6 cm).

 

Gulf Fritillary (Dione vanilae insularis)

The Gulf Fritillary or Dione vanilae insularis is a striking, bright orange butterfly of the family Nymphalidae, sub family Heliconiinae.

The Gulf Fritillary is not closely related to the true fritillaries. It is a medium to large butterfly with wingspan of 6 – 9.5 cm.

Its underwings are buff, with large silvery spots.It takes its name from migrating flights of the butterflies sometimes seen over the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf Fritillary is commonly seen in parks and gardens, as well as in open country. Cultivation of passion flowers in gardens has enabled the Gulf Fritillary to extend its range.

 

The larvae feed on species of passion flower. The larva or caterpillar grows till 4 cm in length ,  bright orange in color and covered in rows of black spines on its head and back.The larvae is poisonous if eaten by predator. (The information taken from Wikipedia and others resources)