Butterflies – Rice Paper – Idea leuconoe
Photographed at the Carleton University “Live” Butterfly exhibit in the Fall of 2010. (Location)
The Rice Paper butterfly, so named because of its large, semi-transparent wings is a large butterfly with about a 10 cm wingspan. It belongs to the Nymphalidae family of butterflies which includes the North American Monarch butterfly. Like the Monarch, it has toxic body fluids which makes it unpalatable to predators.
The Rice Paper butterfly is a native of Malaysia but is found throughout the South Pacific including India and Australia. Its other common names include “Large Tree Nymph” and it is a very common butterfly in butterfly greenhouses and live butterfly expositions because of its size, interesting wing texture (tissue-like), and slow lazy flight. It is also popular in public greenhouse displays because it tends to fly at lower levels and land on the clothes and skin of the happy observers.
Above two images are from my visit to Day 4 of the Carleton University Butterfly Show in October 2010. Nose provided by Christina :-).
Link to info regarding the upcoming 2012 exhibit.
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