Butterflies of the World - Lifecycle, Ecology, Taxonomy, Conservation, Photography, Butterfly Holidays, Photo Galleries, Book Reviews and more.........
Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007, and must not be published in part or in whole elsewhere without prior written permission from the author.
Butterflies of the Amazon rainforest
 
Common Blue Morpho
Morpho helenor CRAMER, 1776
Family - NYMPHALIDAE
subfamily - MORPHINAE
Tribe - MORPHINI
 
 introduction | habitats | lifecycle | adult behaviour
 
Morpho helenor, Madre de Dios, Peru
 
Introduction
 
There are 29 currently recognised species in the genus Morpho. Older literature tends to list up to 80 species, but taxonomic research has concluded that many of these are just subspecies or forms. The former "species" achillaena, montezuma, peleides and telamon for example are amongst the 30 taxa now listed by Lamas ( 2004 ) as subspecies of helenor. It is a source of some amusement to lepidopterists, that the general public in Latin America always refer to every one of the 29 Morpho species as if they were just one creature - "the Blue Morpho".
 
The butterfly is recognised by the broad bands of brilliant blue on the upperside, and by the distinctive white, black, yellow and red concentric rings which form the ocelli on the underside hindwings. The size of these ocelli, and the width of the blue bands on the upperside, varies considerably.
 
I am indebted to Andrew Neild ( author of Butterflies of Venezuela ) for providing the following guide to distinguishing between Morpho helenor and Morpho achilles :

"In Morpho helenor the submarginal whitish band on the underside hindwing gets wider towards the apex, and is usually widest at the apex; in M.achilles it narrows towards the apex, and is usually wider/widest in its mid section. Also, but not always, note that on the FW, in space 3 ( the one that usually has the biggest FW ocellus ), the broad pale band is almost always crescent-shaped, while in M.achilles it is usually triangular, or if nearly crescent-shaped, wider than it is in sympatric M.helenor."
 
The wing area of all Morpho species is enormous relative to the body size. This results in a very distinctive slow and bouncy flight pattern. The effect is that the brilliant blue upperside colouration appears to flash like a beacon as it alternates in flight with the dark undersurface. This probably makes it harder for an avian predator to follow the flight, and causes it great confusion when the butterfly lands - the bird is looking for a brilliant blue insect, but the butterfly snaps it's wings shut to display the dark brown underside, foiling the bird's search program. If the bird does manage to spot the settled butterfly, it will almost always aim it's attack at the most prominent feature - in this case the ocelli, missing the body entirely and allowing the butterfly to escape.
 
Morpho helenor is a widespread and common species throughout the neotropical region from Mexico to Bolivia.
 
Habitats
 
This species is adapted to breed in a wide variety of forested habitats, occurring for example in the dry deciduous woodlands at sea level in Guanacaste ( Costa Rica ), as well as in wet tropical Amazonian rainforests and Andean cloudforest at altitudes of up to about 1800m.
 
Lifecycle
 
The domed eggs are pale green with a narrow reddish ring near the top. They are laid singly on leaves of the foodplants.
 
The fully grown caterpillar is plump, with a large head. The body is beautifully patterned with fine longitudinal lines of bright red, yellow, brown and black, and covered with fine brown hairs which are tufted near the head and tail, and in the middle of the back. It feeds on Macharium, Pterocarpus, Lonchocarpus, Swartzia and Dalbergia - all trees in the family Fabaceae, and also on Bignoniaceae.
 
Morpho caterpillars have eversible glands on the thoracic segments, which emit a strong odour as a defence against predators.
 
The chrysalis is pale green and bulbous, with a short and sturdy peduncle, suspended from a stem.
 
Adult behaviour

 

The bouncy zigzag flight of this saucer-sized butterfly is unmistakeable.

 

Males patrol back and forth along the courses of streams in the dappled sunlight of their forest habitats. They are most active in the mornings, and spend the afternoons either mud-puddling at peccary wallows, or sitting motionless on foliage in light gaps.

 

Females, which are recognised by the wider dark borders on the uppersides, are seen far less frequently, usually only in late morning, when they fly along trails, resting regularly amongst vegetation.

 

Both sexes close their wings immediately upon landing, but periodically flick them open to give the briefest glimpse of the dazzling blue upperside. This behaviour is most pronounced in mud-puddling males, which repeatedly flicker their wings as they hop about on the ground seeking dissolved minerals.

 

 

 

Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007-2008, and must not be reproduced or published in part or in whole elsewhere in any form without written permission from Adrian Hoskins. Breach of copyright will be pursued by litigation.

Website designed, produced and owned by Adrian Hoskins