Thursday, February 12, 2009

Butterflies mating


Not having spared a minute in the last maybe 15 years to observe a butterfly closely (yes, terrible isnt it?!), i did not even realise there were two butterflies in this picture when i sent it out to the MNS asking for the identify.
Some members came up with 'common mormon' and others with the 'common rose'.
It was a member who pointed out that there were two Common Mormons in the pic - the flamboyant female on top and the plain male underneath. The female common mormon is a mimic of the common rose and crimson rose; i think the way to tell them apart is to look at hte body - or the head which is most visible - the crimson rose and common rose have a red head unlike the black common mormon.
Now how does one tell the crimson rose and the common rose apart? the internet says that the crimson rose haas double red markings and double white patches unlike the common rose. hmmm.. i have t o see pictures to visualize this. Or better still, the butterflies themselves!

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