South American Butterflies (2012/2018) by Zhao LiInsect Museum of West China
Butterflies have gained strong interest by humans because of their gorgeous color and elegant posture. With their inherent symmetrical beauty, they have been loved since ancient times.
More than 500 years ago, a book describing butterflies has been published in Europe. Formal research can be traced back to 1758 when famous naturalist Carl Linnaeus created the butterfly taxonomy.
In modern times, more than 17,000 butterfly species have been found in the world, with the most abundant species distributed in South America.
These butterflies are from the family Nymphalidae.
Nymphalidae is the largest family of butterflies with more than 3,400 species distributed worldwide. They are usually small to medium-sized butterflies, and a few species are large.
They are rich in color and shape with quite sophisticated patterns.
These are from the family Heliconiidae, which are also known as longwings.
It is characterized by narrow wings, long antennae and slender abdomen. Its wingspan is between 60-100 mm.
The 2 giant butterflies in the middle are the Morpho cisseis gahua (Brown).
It is one of the largest species of the family Morphidae, with wings spreading up to 19 cm.
Below them are Doxocopa cherubina, also known as “degage traveler” by Brazilians .
It lives in the tropical jungles of the Amazon and is one of the most popular butterflies in the area.
Its wings shimmer with green ribbon-like color, which changes with the change of light. It is praised by local people as the turquoise emperor.
In the upper left corner is the Papilio thoas, also known locally as the King Swallowtail. It is a representative South American butterfly that often appears on stamps.
On its lower right side is the Papilio aristeus.
Anaxibia morpho (Morpho anaxibia) is only distributed in South America and is famous for the dazzling blue luster on the wings of its males. Although there are only 80 species within this family, all of them are cherished by butterfly collectors.
In the upper right corner of the picture, we can see the Napiocles jucunda.
And Cithaerias aurorina on its lower right side.
The butterflies of this genus have transparent wings with distinct red, orange and eye-shaped spots only on a part of the hind wings.
With the rose-red color on the hind wings, when flying in the dark jungle, this butterfly species looks like a petal fluttering in the wind, which is really beautiful.
Like other butterflies with transparent wings, it is easy to be recognized as there is no scale on their wings.
Their transparent wings can help them hide and avoid attacks from predators.
