Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Zebra Longwing Butterfly

Zebra Longwing (Heliconius charitonius)
Insect art to promote insect growth and development.


The Zebra Longwing is common to Central and South America but also resides in southern Florida. It begins mating right after it emerges from its chrysalis. The female lays five to fifteen eggs on the leaves of passion flower vines. The caterpillar (depicted twice the size) has a white body with long black spines and a yellow/green head. It can go from egg to butterfly in a little over three weeks and continues this life cycle year round.The Passion flower depicted here is Passiflora incarnata,a species common to the southern USA.The Passion flower is named for the Passion of Christ on the cross. In the 15th century, Spanish Christian missionaries discovered it and adopted its unique structures as symbols of the Crucifixion.The 72 radial filaments (depicted 10 times actual size) represent the Crown of Thorns; the ten petals, the ten apostles; the top three stigmata, the three nails; and the lower five anthers, the five wounds.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Little Yellow

Little Yellow (Eurema lisa)
Insect art to promote insect growth and development.



The Little Yellow likes warm weather and can usually be seen on the eastern side of northern South America, the West Indies up to the Carolinas. In the last few decades, however, they have become more frequent visitors further north to the Great Lakes Regions and New England. The Little Yellow cannot
survive cold winters. Fresh immigrants arrive in the Northeast and Midwest every year, furnishing one to two more broods before the autumn chill kills them. Vast numbers of Little Yellows emigrate to the Caribbean and Atlantic. Little Yellows are small with a wingspan ranging between three to four centimeters. The mating pair in the foreground of this illustration are a bit more than twice their natural size. The female lays minute eggs usually on a legume such as Wild Senna or the Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata), illustrated here. Clovers (Trifolium) and Hog Peanuts (Amphicarpse) can also serve a host plants for Little Yellows.
Artist: Cindy Gilbane
If you would like to see more of Cindy's art go to:  http://www.artbygilbane.com
or e-mail her at: clgilbane@gmail.com

Friday, April 9, 2010

Great Spangled Fritillary

Great Spangled Fritillary  (Speyeria cybele)

Insect art to promote insect growth and development.
 


The Great Spangled Fritillary, named for the silvery “spangles” on the undersurface, is found throughout most of the eastern United States, central California, New Mexico, and central Arkansas. The caterpillars (larvae) of all Greater Fritillaries feed on a single host plant, violets (Viola spp.), pictured. However, adult butterflies nectar from many species of flowers including purple coneflower. (Echinacea purpurea) A member of the brush-footed (Nymphalidae) family, it has a wingspan of 2 to 4 inches. The lack of a black spot near the base of the forewing, as well as a wide, pale submarginal band on the hindwing, distinguishes it from Aphrodite and Atlantis. The Great Spangled exhibits a distinctive lifestyle. After mating, females seem to enter a rare state of summer dormancy (estivation). In early fall, eggs are laid in leaf litter near violets, but often not upon them. Emerging caterpillars do not feed, but go into hibernation until spring.

Artist: Nikki Giannini
Contact Nikki at: nikkigiannini@mac.com

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Queen butterfly

Queen Butterfly - Monarch Butterfly MIMIC

 
The Queen belongs to the family of the Danaidae. The Danaidae are known as "Milkweed Butterflies" since they not only feed on milkweed, but also lay their eggs on it. The Queen butterfly nectars on a wide variety of plants, one of which is the Lantana camara portrayed in this image. It survives on the energy it gets from the sugar that the nectar contains, as well as on the nutrition it stored in its body as a caterpillar. The Queen butterfly is a fierce migrator and can travel distances from Southern Florida to Massachussetts. Most butterflies live for one to two weeks but the Queen can survive an entire winter season. As with other North American Danaus species, it is involved in mimicry with the Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) and Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) where the three co-occur. The diet of Milkweed makes all three unpalatable to predators.
 
 
Artist: Gusta Van Dobbenburgh
E-mail address:gusta@botanical.nl
Website: www.botanical.nl
Gusta has been planning to paint more butterflies and is continuously expanding on her botanical cards. Also, her first calendar is coming out this spring! All to be seen on her updated website soon!