Life Cycle of the Blue Morpho Butterfly
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- Опубліковано 19 сер 2024
- This video describes the life cycle of the iconic Costa Rican, Blue Morpho Butterfly, starting with mating. The four phases are, 1. eggs 2. larva or caterpillar 3. pupa or chrysalis 4. adult Blue Morpho butterfly. In the Pierella Butterfly Garden depending on the need for these butterflies, we can see many Blue Morpho butterflies.
Adult Morpho peleides butterflies are frugivores, or fruit feeders, and often feed on decaying fruits. Unlike most butterflies, they do not visit flowers for nectar (Knopp and Krenn 2002). They have been observed feeding on tree sap from Samanea trees (Fabaceae) (Young 1975).
We use very ripe bananas for them (the butterfly) to feed on.
Thank you Bill! I am very grateful that you made this video and I am planning to breed Blue Morpho butterflies myself!
Arche, I'm new to this UA-cam and I think I sent you a reply already1 But, in case you didn't get it I wanted to make sure we communicate. I'm much better on email and my email is: wcooper@uci.edu. Where do you live? I live in north-central Florida, not too far from the University of Florida where they have a large entomology program and where they are rearing a number of endangered species. Bill (also Instagram at billcooperscience)
Good Luck!
Great work Bill. I loved this video. Very clear explanation.
Thank you very much! I appreciate the feed-back and the positive feed-back at that!
Amazing looking caterpillars
Thank you, †he blue morpho is an amazing butterfly!
It would be great if at the end we could see the top of this beautiful Blue Morpho! Love the video, though!
Carol Ann, I agree - but the butterflies don't. It is almost impossible to get a good picture of the top of the wings. The blue color is actually not a "blue" but nanoparticles that refract the light. Somewhere I do have a photo of the top of the Blue Morpho, not sure where, but it was a "dead" butterfly that I photographed. If you want me to look, I think I sent it to Kevin for our website: www:prfpr.org or send me an email and l'll look for it" wcooper@uci.edu. Bill
Fascinating to watch a blue morpho hatching! I don't think I have the right foodplant to breed it in S E Asia, unfortunately!
Thank you for this amazing video! I've learned so much and since I am a young biologist I still have so much to learn. I will try to raise awareness in order to let everyone know that these creatures are as important as the other ones.
Sorry I did not reply. Yes these Blue Morpho are spectacular. The "blue" is not really blue, it is nanocrystals that refract the light to give the blue color.
Bill
what tipe of plant is the one where these butterflies lay eggs ?
But what Plant are they feeding on?
What are their host plants?
Whats plants do Females most favour to lay their eggs on??
Known larval food plants are Leguminosae (Arachis hypogaea, Dioclea wilsonii, Inga species, Lonchocarpus, Machaerium cobanense, Machaerium salvadorense, Machaerium seemannii, Medicago sativa, Mucuna mutisiana, Pithecellobium, Pterocarpus rohrii, Mucuna urens) and Bignoniaceae (Paragonia pyramidata).
Honestly I'm not a plant person - so you may to look these up. Bill Cooper
This is cool 😮
Thank you. This is always special to see all these beautiful butterflies flying around!
I live in Greece and I want to make a butterfly farm with this amazing blue butterflies..how can I do it ?
Alex, The Blue Morpho is a tropical butterfly and I looked up its food plant and that didn't help me. YOU have to find a plant that will grow in your location. I photographed these in Costa Rica where it's food plant is all over. I would suggest that you locate a butterfly garden near you and see if they can help you. The Costa Rica Entomological Supply ships to over 130 countries and they ship chrysalis. So some are male and some female, once they mate the female finds the food plant and lays eggs on it and the caterpillars grow. I just don't enough about where in Greece you can get help. Sorry. Bill
@@WilliamJamesCooper whats the name of that plant..?
@@kheer777 This is embarrassing but I have no idea. For food plant info I would go to Google - Blue Morpho. Morpho peliedes (sp?) is ours.
Excellent video......
Thank you - it was fun making this one! Bill
Thanks for the video! Does caterpillar hang upside down before making that cocoon?
Yes, They attach their "last segment" of the caterpillar body and then hang upside down as the caterpillar exoskeleton is shed and a lite green chrysalis is left hanging. That is the when metamorphosis happens - caterpillar to butterfly - and the butterfly emerges.
What is the host plant name anybody plz tell me
I like blue butterflys the most. The are like flying blue ice cristals
Smitha, you should see them is person - it is spectacular.
Yes that's correct.
What type of country can you mostly find the blue Morpho eggs in?🤔
The Blue Morpho is a tropical butterfly. I've seen them in Costa Rica and at Iguana Falls, Argentina. "Blue morphos live in the tropical forests of Latin America from Mexico to Colombia. Adults spend most of their time on the forest floor and in the lower shrubs and trees of the understory with their wings folded"
I love dat butterfly
Grace, I like it also!
William James Cooper glad to hear 👍🏻
What is the scientific name of this plant
I have to apologize I have no idea what plant the leaves are from. I think you can get some ideas of food plants if you "Google" blue morpho butterflies. Sorry, Bill
I want to cach it
great VIDEO!!!!
I'm glad you enjoyed this one - it is one of my favorites.
How long do they live as a butterfly in this last stage?
115 days
Ok. Thank you so much. Please, can you tell me which its host plant?
Host plants: Eats Fabaceae such as Wisteria, Arachnis, Trifolium, Muccuna, Cassia. Larvae will feed on a wider range of Fabaceae than adults are willing to oviposit on
Where can I buy the blue morpho caterpillars,I have always wanted to raise this type of butterfly
Timothy, I do not know where to get caterpillars - you would have to get pupae. However, butterfly gardens have to have importing licenses and get them from licensed exporters. Pierella sends it caterpillars to the Costa Rican Entomological Supply in San Jose. If you send me an email I probably can't help but I can give you more information; wcooper@uci.edu. Bill
Can i touch the caterpillar?
These are native to Trinidad but I don't know the host plant. Can you tell me?
HI, glad you liked the story. The butterfly book I have says that in Trinidad the host plant is Paragonia (Bignoniacea) - don't know that myself! Good Luck.
What's the plant name?
I honestly don't know.
So I actually have some questions, I want to breed/raise blue morpho butterflies but I have no clue where to start.
My first question is where do you live. Second, do you use email - I have article that will help you my email is wcooper@uci.edu. Please say HI and identify yourself so I know who you are. Maybe put "Blue Morpho" in the subject line! I'd love to help you! Bill
They can eat any plants!
Hi, the caterpillars usually stick to several plants and I'm not sure that the food plant is for the Blue Moorpho. Sorry, Bill
Why are the wings brown, or how do they become blue.
The Blue Morpho uses nano-structured scales to refract the sun's light to blue. This is not a blue "dye" organic color. It is like a prism that refracts light. In the case of the Blue Morpho the light is refracted to the iridescent blue on the wings.
@@WilliamJamesCooper I was wondering because I didn't here anything about it in the video or nothing about it in the comments, so thank you.
@@Azzerland Good point - you can't anticipate all of the questions and I'm so glad you raised it. The paper on the nanoscale I think was only published in 2017 - so it is relatively new. Enjoy!!!!!
Hello, I am very interested in breeding butterflies. would you sell dolls? or do you have a shop where you can import them
No, sorry
How long take from catterpilar to butterfly?
The blue morpho’s entire lifespan lasts only 115 days, which means most of their time is spent eating and reproducing.
Eggs - 5 - 8 days
Caterpillars - 5
@@WilliamJamesCooper i mean How mamy weeks take time from egg to hatching from crystal
@@annsnxnxnd261 Usually the eggs hatch in 5-8 days, then there are 5 instars of caterpillars, an instar is they eat, shed skin, eat more shed skin, at the end of 5th instar they form a pupa, Instars are 20 - 30 days, then the pupa is 8 - 10 days and butterfly emerges as an adult and they can last as an adult for 1 - 2 months.
@@WilliamJamesCooper from hath to adult take About 40 days?
@@annsnxnxnd261 Yes - that is a good estimate. You may find more detailed information on Google? I'm not an entomologist! I'm a chemist! Bill
You talk about the Blue Morpho’s life cycle but never talk about the most important aspect which is it’s host plants! Not one species of host plant was mentioned and it’s habitat! Without host plants you don’t have butterflies!
I apologize for not mentioning the food plant. They use different plants in the "pea" family. They also are attracted to rotating fruits, we use bananas. I was totally focused on the butterfly - totally forgot to mention the food plant. If you want more information it is easy to google the butterfly. Bill