Rise of the Purple Hairstreaks - Butterfly Life Cycle Documentary V03006
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- The Great Purple Hairstreak Butterfly (Altides halesus) is widely distributed in the southern and western United States, but is considered a rare butterfly in most places, and is seldom seen by most people. The larvae feed on various species of Mistletoe. The adult butterflies rarely open their wings, except to take flight, and usually appear as dark charcoal/black-colored when at rest with their wings over their backs. The only time to see the amazing iridescent top side of a living Purple Hairstreak is when they first emerge from the chrysalis and expand their wings.
Just like the more famous Morpho Butterflies of South America, the iridescent scales appear to change color as the light refracts from them at different angles, breaking the wavelengths up into specific frequencies, just like a prism. The freshly emerged adults appear to be bright metallic green for the first few seconds, then change color to a more aqua-blue or purple as the scales change their shape and angle during wing expansion.
The sexes are dimorphic, with the smaller males being a deep metallic blue-green, while the slightly larger females are a less reflective powder blue color.
Description and timeline of events shown:
* Eggs - (the little white blobs) shown at a distance for scale, and up close for detail, hatch in about 10 days;
* Hatching - tiny, fuzzy 1st instar larva chewing it's way out of the egg, 30 minutes;
* Larvae - 5 phases, called "instars", with a skin molting in between each, 3-4 weeks total;
* Pre-pupation - the mature larva secures itself to a surface and prepares to pupate (2 days)
* Pupation - the pre-pupa larva molts its skin, becoming a pupa (about 10 minutes);
* Hardening - the pupal shell hardens to semi-rigid shell in a few hours;
* Metamorphosis - the adult develops in the pupal shell (about 2-3 weeks);
* Emerging - the fully developed adult cracks-open the shell and crawls free(1-2 minutes);
* Wing expansion - the adult pumps fluid into the wing vein structure, expanding them (10 minutes).
* Wing "drying" - the fluid in the wings dries, making them rigid enough to fly with (2-3 hours).
Detailed documentary at JCMDI.COM: lepidoptera.jcm...
Much more butterfly and moth life cycle documentary is available, free to the public at lepidoptera.jcmdi.com.
The soundtrack is "Newton's Prizm" from the "TimeShift" CD by Technician (yours truly), album and single track available on iTunes: itunes.apple.c... full artist discography and CDs available at HTTP://technician.jcmd...
Note: The audio and video material contained herein is copyright 2015 JCM Digital Imaging, however, you may download this footage directly from UA-cam and use it free of charge in your own non-profit/non-commercial UA-cam videos, school projects, etc. The full free usage policy and UA-cam copyright notice/ad info can be found here (please read before using JCMDI material): jcmdi.com/stock... jcmdi.com/stock...
Enjoy the show!
Thanks, Mimi :D These little guys are something you normally get to see in everyday life - it was my pleasure to bring them to you!
Can't believe that those chubby little green leaf looking caterpillars grow up to be these butterflies that look like their wings are made of jewels...beautiful!
Absolutely stunning! My 4 yr old granddaughter wants to watch this everyday now. I want her to see how amazing and beautiful our natural world is.
Thank you so much from both of us! :-D
Wow - that's the coolest critique my videos have ever had! Thanks for the in-depth review :D Not surprisingly, many of the improvements in my work are partly due to viewer comments about what they did and didn't like about my previous productions. Maybe some day I'll catch up to the professionals! :D Thanks again for your time and effort to write that!
It's really nice to see you back online - thanks for visiting and kind words! :-)
Thanks so much, Monica! I'm really glad you're enjoying my work! :-)
Thanks so much for taking the time to write this great comment! Yes, this was one my bigger projects - nearly 5 months-worth of time and effort, and something I'd been wanting to put together for a very long time. The real icing on the cake is that the world now has the opportunity to see and enjoy it too! :-)
I used to watch this video back when it first came out... I was 3, watching it on a Windows XP machine, I am very grateful for this video, as its one of the few things that I can remember through a troubled childhood. Thank you
Hi Linda! Thanks so much for posting my work there - I see you have 2 others there as well... I hope the readers there enjoy the show :-) Cheers and have a great weekend!
Fantastic! I've never seen one of these, and their coloration is incredible! It was a monstrous project capturing their full life cycle, I'm sure. Your photography was, as always, spectacular!!
Moosie
Glad you enjoyed! Too bad they're so secretive and hard to find! These little critters have fascinated me since I was a kid, and there seems to be no end to what we can learn about them. Thanks for watching!
Hi Paula! Glad you enjoyed - thanks for watching! :-)
Fabulous video - thank you for sharing...we appreciate the time and effort it took to make this and will share it often!
Thanks for checking it out! This is probably one of my best Lep productions so far. It was a big, long rearing project, with TONS of pics and video shot. I wrote the music specifically for this project, too. I only with I had my HD equipment at that time. Oh well - I guess I'll just have to do it again now that I have better equipment! :-)
Some of these were big projects, taking several months or even years to complete - glad you enjoyed! Thanks for checking them out :-)
Glad you enjoyed this one - it was a big project and a lot of work :-) Thanks for stopping by!
Wow, beautiful. Beautiful music, beautiful video. So many amazing things. The honey-comb intricacy of the egg sac, the way the tiny caterpillars blend in with the colour of the leaves, and how ugly they are in their last stage, and how beautiful they become. Wow!!!
I'm glad you liked this one! I had wanted to raise this species for many years. It was one of the most effort-intensive of my many projects... The music was written specifically for this vid, took nearly two weeks - the second longest musical effort next to the "Stitching the Sky" score. I only wish I had shot all the footage in HD, but this was made before I had the capability! :-)
Thank you for revisiting my childhood with new vision. There were many of these when I was growing up flitting among the lupine and poppies. They frequented by grandparents place; half the yard was garden, the other overgrown with grapes, trees, & a compost heap! Grandpa warned me someday they'd be rare to see, as he watched a great Condor fell swoop from a tree - I was so lucky to love these things! Lastly I saw a mission blue near Pacifica. I miss the bay, & the good golden days...Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ
Well hello there! Glad to see you made it on board - and safely, too!
Thanks once again for watching and all the very nice comments - Such appreciation makes all the hard work well worthwhile :-)
I'm glad you enjoyed - thanks for visiting! =)
This video is so amazing. Thank you for sharing these with those of us who will most likely never see this in real life. Your music and your filming are beautiful. I could watch these videos of yours for hours on end and never tire of them! :)
Thanks so much - I put a lot of effort into the filming and writing the music for this one... I'm glad you enjoyed! Cheers! =)
Than you so much for all your attention and kind words! =)
My pleasure - thanks for stopping by! :D
Great comment! Thanks so much for the view and kind words - I'm glad you enjoyed the show :-)
Hi Milly! Thanks so much for watching, and the nice comment - glad you liked it :D
Thanks so much for stopping by! =)
I'm glad you enjoyed the show - thanks for the view and kind words! :-)
Thanks so much for the great comment and kind words! I'm happy you're nnjoying my work :-) Cheers!
The end of the video is intense. I love the closeup timelapses articulating the colors shifting in the wings, I gotta say that is some blessed footage man. Hairstreaks are tiny, but there is a whole universe of color in those wings.
Thanks so much for the great comment! This is one of my better works and I'm glad you enjoyed it. :-)
I'm glad you enjoyed this one - it was indeed a lot of work! Thanks for the view and kind words :-)
Thanks for the nice words :-) Yes it was quite the effort to get all this footage, then writing the music and all. Glad it's getting to be enjoyed by all! :D
I'm glad you enjoyed this one - it was one of my bigger projects in both photography and music writing :-) Have a great weekend!
Thanks so much for the great comment! This was a big project and I'm glad you enjoyed it :-) Cheers!
It always amazes me to see how such a large set of wings can come from such a small package! XD I'm glad you enjoyed the show - thanks so much for the visit and kind words! :-)
Those little bugs are really something, aren't they? :D Thanks so much for watching and commenting :-)
Most of my rearing projects are pretty interesting and enjoyable but this one was particularly so :-) Thanks so much for stopping by!
Thanks so much for the great comment! Nice to hear that my work is appreciated! :-)
Glad you enjoyed this one - it was a big project and lots of work. Thanks for visiting! :-)
Thank you so much for the nice comment - I'm glad you enjoyed the show! :-)
Thanks for stopping by! :-)
Thanks for stopping by! Cheers :D
Thanks so much for stopping by! :-) I found your stuff very cool too - your music is top-notch :D
I'm glad you enjoyed this one - it was a big project and these little critters were quite spectacular to film :-)
That's great to hear - thank you! I'm glad that you are get as much enjoyment out of these as I am getting from making them :-)
Thanks so much for such a super nice comment! Glad you enjoyed and thanks for watching :D
So glad you enjoyed - thanks for stopping by to watch! :-)
Thanks so much for the great comment! I'm happy you're enjoying my video and music :-) Cheers!
It was my pleasure - thanks for the view, rate and nice comment! :D
Indeed they are amazing little bugs! Thanks so much for watching and commenting :-)
Glad you enjoyed the show - thanks so much for visiting! =)
I found them surprisingly easy to rear - friendly and cooperative. Most hairstreaks ARE smaller and not as brightly colored as these - well worth the effort! :-)
Thanks so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the show! :-)
What a beautiful butterfly. Thank you for taking the time to post this for us to see
Super nice comment - thank you very much! I'm glad my work is getting a chance to be seen by those who can appreciate it - nice of you to share it with others. :D Thanks, too, for the comment about the music - that took me about a week to write. :-)
Thanks for the visit and great comment! I hope your neighbor likes the show too :-)
Thanks so much for the very comment and stars! Glad you enjoyed :-)
So glad you enjoyed! Thanks for stopping by to view and comment :-)
So glad you enjoyed -thanks for checking it out! :-)
Even more interesting is that the closer you look, the more detail and complexity there is to see and discover :-) Thanks for stoping by!
Juany - thanks so much for the nice comment. Yes I agree the butterfly's transformation is just an amazing process. I'm glad you enjoyed the documentary. :D
Thanks Linda! I really appeciate the view, comment and stars! :-)
Thanks so much for watching and commenting :-) I had wanted to raise this species since I was a kid. It was quite a treat to finally accomplish AND document for everyone else to experience too! This is also one of the few vids for which I wrote the music specifically to go with the events and images. So glad you enjoyed this one :-)
Thanks for the great comment! So glad you enjoyed :-)
They sure are beautiful, it's ever so nice to see someone dedicated to such interesting and educational work (:
Thank you very much for recommending this, I really enjoyed it (:
I particularly liked the way they change color as the wings expand. Something about the metallic blue/green that really looks cool =)
Thanks so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the show =)
A lot of work went into this project - so glad you enjoyed! Thanks for watching and commenting =)
I'm glad you enjoyed the show! Thanks so much for watching and the nice comment =)
A new favorite for me! Your videos are very inspirational , thanks for all the effort it takes to produce such an incredible video!
Thanks so much! It was hard to go wrong documenting these butterflies - they are like little jewels! :-)
This is very lovely to watch aside from being very informative in itself. It's nice to sometime just stop and cherish the moment watching nature unfolds. Thanks for making that possible for busy people like me..
Thanks, Tara - for the view, comment and stars! :D :D
One of my bigger projects and productions - glad you enjoyed! :-)
It is a truly amazing process - they do actually "pump" a semi-clear fluid into the wings' vein structure to expand them to full size. The fact that they can fit those wings into that tiny little pupal case along with the rest of their body is the real impressive part! Thanks for visiting! :-)
Thanks so much for checking it out and the cool comment! =)
Fascinating life cycle. Gorgeous transformation. Nature is an amazing thing...
My pleasure - thanks so much for watching and comenting :-)
Thank you so much for the nice comment. I've been studying butterflies and moths for many years but only recently have I been documenting their life cycles on video. Lots more to come - thanks again for watching :D
Quite a show they put on. Thanks for watching! :D
Thank you very much for this complete documentary - it is the best I've seen until now!!!
Wow- the wings unfolding were heavenly! It almost made me cry! I'm not even sure why but that was just beautiful and perfect music too.
So glad you enjoyed this one... it was a big project but most enjoyable to make. Thanks for watching! =)
Yea, they're shy little bugs! The only time you can see them with their wings open is when they're mounted in collections or better - when they first emerge like this! Glad you liked the music, too - that took me a week! Thanks so much! :D
Your videos are so incredibly wonderful and I am fascinated by what I have seen so far!! This particular one is very moving - the photography and the whole process is beautifully portrayed by you. Favorited and top stars to your artistic talent!
...that was an absolute treat,you've captured some wonderful shots.Together with the real relaxing music,I had a lovely morning coffee,chilled out to this a couple of times and began my day feelin great...what more could anyone ask for!
This must have taken so much work n patience to complete,a real labour of love.
I love the natural world,it never ceases to amaze.Butterfies n moths are a particular fav.,so well done for caprturing moments we might otherwise never have seen so beautifully.
This is probably one of the most unusual caterpillars I have reared yet. You're right - when they are scattered around the mistletoe plant in small numbers they are nearly impossible to detect unless you spend a LOT of time examining each leaf. Thanks for checking it out! :-)
It took about 2 weeks to finally finish this music track for the vid.... I'm glad you liked it :-) Cheers!
It's great comments and appreciation like yours that really makes all the effort worthwhile - thank you so much! :-) :-)
Nature documentaries are some of my favorite kinds of films, too - thanks for watching mine! :-)
Thank you so much for this great comment! A lot of work went into this project and it's really nice to see it being enjoyed by others! :-)
Thanks so much for visiting! :-)
Thanks so much Paula!! :-)
Actually, all of these came from the eggs of ONE female! She is the one shown feeding at the beginning. A friend of mine caught her out in the desert and brought her back to me so I could try to raise some. It turned out to be easier than I thought and the project was a whopping success. Lots of time and effort to record it all, but well worth it. :D
I never considered finding outstanding nature documentary videos on UA-cam, but was directed here by a great lep photog from the Northeast. I'm SO glad she posted the link to our nature photo group! I was captivated from the very first, and also appreciated your written chronology in your notes. I'll be passing around the link myself as I know many folks who would hate to have missed this video! BTW, I applaud the soundtrack, too! A perfect marriage with the visual!
Thanks for the nice comment! There are many Lyceanidae larvae that look similar to this one (weird little wormies!), so if it was actually eating the Sugar Maple leaves, it was probably another species.
These little guys only eat Mistletoe, although the one(s) you photographed may have been moving from a nearby Mistletoe plant, looking for a place to pupate... Usually under the bark or debris around the base of the tree. :-)
Thanks, Sirra! So glad you enjoyed :-)
So glad you enjoyed - thanks so much for watching and the nice comment! :-)