Friday, January 7, 2011

Edith's checkerspot butterfly laying her eggs while paying no attention to gravity

From the video's description: Some butterflies of this species lay eggs near the top of the plant and some lay near the base. This is the first of a pair of clips to illustrate the difference. The butterfly is gently led onto the plant (a Collinsia) by hand. She then behaves as though she had naturally alighted on the plant. The first part of the clip is in slow-motion so that you can see the butterfly tasting the plant with her atrophied forelegs (that are not used in walking). If the taste is acceptable (as it is in this case) she curls her abdomen and the brown ovipositor (the tube through whcgh eggs are laid) appears. The insect feels the underside of a leaf, and then, if the leaf is acceptable to touch, eggs are laid. At this point the clip shifts out of slow-motion an then to faster than normal. The NEXT video shows a different butterfly of the same species treating a plant very differently.

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