Tree Nymph Butterfly Facts
There are many names for the tree nymph butterfly: the rice paper butterfly, paper kite butterfly or wood nymph butterfly. The name rice paper butterfly likely comes from the unusual texture of its wings. The way it flits and floats in the air led to the name paper-kite butterfly. The Japanese call it Ogomadara or Lady of the Southern Island.
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Description
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The tree nymph has a wingspan of 37 to 43 inches. This large black and white insect is the largest in Japan. Unevenly joined black spots mark the bottom edges of the wings, giving them a ragged look. Its body is yellow with black markings. The front legs are short and brush-like, completely useless for walking. The butterflies have odd, club-shaped antennae.
Habitat
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Naturally located in Southeast Asia, the tree nymph lives in wet, evergreen forests flying high in the canopy or in tall forests near rivers dryer zones. Tree nymphs also breed in butterfly parks and farms. The butterfly lands on red hats and shirts because of its attraction to the color red.
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Diet
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Tree nymph butterflies feed on lianas, vines and milkweed, which are creeping plants that grow around the bases of trees. These plants contain alkaloids that the female uses to find the correct plants to lay eggs. These alkaloids are similar to the pheromones of male butterflies and it appears this is a long evolutionary relationship. Most likely, the butterfly pheromones developed to mimic the alkaloids of its food plants. Caterpillars collect the alkaloids in their bodies, and keep them when they become adults. The alkaloid build-up causes both caterpillars and butterflies to taste incredibly bitter.
Mating and Breeding
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The tree nymph butterfly drops down from the canopy to feed and breed. When courting, males and females fly together for a time before the male extends two long organs called hair pencils from its abdomen. The hair pencils brush a female's antennae, releasing the pheromones that tell her to mate. The male passes many chemicals including the poisonous danaidone to the female with his hair pencils and in the sperm while mating. The chemical ends up both on the female and her eggs to protect them from predation. Butterflies only lay eggs on their own feeding plants, which the caterpillars eat when they hatch.
Conservation
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The biggest threat to the beautiful insect is the destruction and degradation of its habitat. The butterfly in classified as lower risk-near threatened on the ICUN Red List 2003. Currently, there are no direct conservation efforts for the tree nymph, but it does live in a few protected areas such as the forest reserves of Kanneliya, Sinharaja and Morapitiya.
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References
- Photo Credit Butterfly collecting nectar at Yosemite National Park image by Tinu from Fotolia.com
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Comments
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The wingspan of this butterly is 95 to 110 mm, equivalent to about 4 inches, and not 37 to 43 inches. The author appears to have confused millimetres and centimetres. Source: the Japan Times article cited above.
