Blue is the rarest occurring colour in nature, with no true blue pigments in plants. In some ways, blue butterflies are natures way of completing the colour spectrum. From South American wonders to local Tropical icons, here's some stunning blue butterflies from around the world…
They are the bay checkerspot, Fender's blue, crystal skipper, the Miami blue, Saint Francis' satyr, and the rarest butterfly in the world, the Schaus swallowtail, whose habitat is sadly found in the sprawling metropolis of Miami. Of all six species together, only about 3,000 remain.
The blue morpho is known all over the world to be one of the world's most beautiful butterflies, and that's because of its bright blue color on the upperside of its wings. The underside of the blue morpho's wings looks different with a brown color and eyespots.
There are some 60 species in the United States, compared to about 1,100 worldwide. General colors in these mid-sized butterflies are usually white or yellow, while some species have orange-tipped wings or greenish marbling on the wings. The Cabbage White, perhaps the most common U.S. butterfly, is in this group.
Butterflies that appear pink are rare in nature. Often times, they are closer to purple, or possess translucent or colorless wings, but their shimmer could produce a pink effect in the sunlight. The pink and olive-colored Elephant Hawk Moth is often mistaken for a pink butterfly, but they are not.
The blue morpho is among the largest butterflies in the world, with wings spanning from five to eight inches. Their vivid, iridescent blue coloring is a result of the microscopic scales on the backs of their wings, which reflect light.
The Ulysses butterfly is found in most tropical rainforest areas such as Northern Queensland, Northern islands of Australia and Papua New Guinea and lives below the rainforest canopy. Did you know? Its common name is “Mountain Blue Butterfly” and is a large swallowtail butterfly.
This species has been described as the most variable butterfly in the world, with distinctive variations among females make finding two alike a rare occurrence. Printer : Southern Colour Print, Dunedin New Zealand.
The Purple Emperor is rare among butterflies. It avoids flowers, preferring rotting animal corpses, faeces, mud puddles - and even human sweat.
The purple copper butterfly is one of Australia's rarest butterfly species and is only found in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales. Its habitat is restricted to elevations above 900 metres. The purple copper butterfly feeds only on a subspecies of blackthorn (Bursaria spinosa subspecies lasiophylla).
There are a few butterflies across the world with a purple appearance. Some of these include: the Purple Emperor, the Colorado Hairstreak, the Purple Hairstreak, the Rhopalocera Singaporeana, the Purple Sapphire, the Karner blue, the Purple leafwing, and the Royal Assyrian.
Common and widespread, this medium-sized butterfly can be found in gardens and hedgerows.
The white butterfly lives all over the world including Australia, Asia, and Europe. There are a total of 1,100 species of white butterfly worldwide. They are found in gardens, forests, and traveling over fields of weeds. Their bright, white wings and black spots make them hard to miss!
There are many species of “rainbow butterflies” and they live in different places around the world. Genera include Chrysiridia, Alcides, and Urania, each with several species. These are in the same sub- family, Uraniinae.
Our simulation indicated that the Papilio vision is tetrachromatic, employing the ultraviolet, blue, green and red receptors. The random array of three ommatidial types is a common feature in butterflies.
Can Butterflies Be Pink? Many experts say that there are no butterflies that are really pink in color, though some species may appear pink due to iridescence. Pink is not a color that exists in nature, it is not a wavelength or particle, and does not appear in the visible spectrum.
But when it comes to nature, blue is very rare. Less than 1 in 10 plants have blue flowers and far fewer animals are blue. So why is that? Part of the reason is that there isn't really a true blue colour or pigment in nature and both plants and animals have to perform tricks of the light to appear blue.
There is no plant more attractive to butterflies than the butterfly bush. Best colors are blue, purple or similar colors. The least attractive color is white. It has been a wonderful year for the yellow/black Tiger Swallowtails.
A longtime favorite of staff and visitors alike, the zebra longwing (Heliconius charitonius) is native from South America to south Texas and Florida, and occasionally an immigrant can be found as far north as Nebraska!
Are golden butterflies real? Right now, the internet is obsessing over this video of a butterfly pupae that looks like gold when you set your eyes on it. However, 'not everything that glitters is gold' stands true here. The pupae actually belongs to a species of butterfly named cream-spotted tigerwing.
Fun fact: The stunning Scarlet Peacock butterfly is known to group in large masses of hundreds of butterflies, although it is very rare to spot.
The Meadow Brown is the most abundant butterfly species in many habitats. Hundreds may be seen together at some sites, flying low over the vegetation. Adults fly even in dull weather when most other butterflies are inactive.
Plant type and color is important - Adult butterflies are attracted to red, yellow, orange, pink and purple blossoms that are flat-topped or clustered and have short flower tubes. Plant good nectar sources in the sun - Your key butterfly nectar source plants should receive full sun from mid-morning to mid-afternoon.
Hypolimnas bolina, the great eggfly, common eggfly, varied eggfly or in New Zealand the blue moon butterfly is a species of nymphalid butterfly found from Madagascar to Asia and Australia.