Combat readiness. Detailed structure of the butterfly The largest moth

Widest habitat of all insects

In the American white butterfly Hyphantria cunea from the bear family. This pest has the widest habitat. Its caterpillar feeds on 636 species of plants that grow in different corners globe. It is inferior to the gypsy moth butterfly and the Japanese beetle. The gypsy moth butterfly feeds on plants whose parts contain tannin.

Vision

The number of facets in the eye of a butterfly is 17 thousand, a fly has 4 thousand facets, and a dragonfly has 28 thousand.

Variety of butterflies

Body temperature

To fly, the butterfly's muscles must be warmed up to at least 30 degrees. This is why you can so often see a butterfly basking in the sun with its wings wide open - it replenishes spent energy.

Organs of taste

Where are the butterfly's taste organs? After all, she has no language. In the proboscis? But I didn’t guess right. Imagine - on your paws. And this “tongue” of hers is 2000 times more sensitive than that of a person. As soon as the butterfly touches tasty pollen or sweet juice with its paws, it immediately understands what’s what, and its proboscis instantly unfolds.

Butterfly proboscis

A distinctive feature of butterflies is their soft proboscis. It is always coiled and unrolls when the butterfly eats. The length of the proboscis, by the way, depends on the depth of the calyx of the flower on which butterflies of a certain species feed. Sometimes the proboscis is very short, and sometimes it is long, up to 35 centimeters, like that of the Madagascan hawk moth.

The largest moth in the world -Attacus Altas.
With a wingspan of 30 cm, it is often mistaken for a bird.

Butterfly breath

The butterfly breathes through the thinnest tubes - tracheas, which permeate its entire body. They are connected to the outside world by two openings on the chest and sixteen on the abdomen.

Upper limit of hearing in insects

Daytime Peacock's Eye Caterpillar 1,000 Hz
Grasshopper 90,000 Hz

Tongue on feet

Butterflies detect the taste of plants through organs located on their legs.

Butterfly heart

Do butterflies have a heart? Yes, I have. Only not in the chest, but... in the abdomen. And their blood is not red, but green. It does not contain hemoglobin, and it does not carry oxygen, like in humans, but delivers it to all insect cells nutrients, various hormones and enzymes.

Color vision

Night moths Deilephila elpenor in the dark they “switch” their vision to color. During the experiment, the insect found yellow and blue artificial flowers, choosing from eight other shades gray. The second series of experiments was carried out under moonlight. The moth was wrong only 10% of the time. It was found that the insect cannot distinguish between a brighter shade of color and a darker one. This means that it uses exactly " spectral analysis"for vision, i.e. in other words, the moth sees in color.

It was found that the insect has three color receptors - blue, green and ultraviolet. At night, when there is very little light, the complex structure of the moth's eye captures the light and reflects it inside the eye about 600 times, thereby amplifying the light signal.

These moths live in Europe and Asia, fly out in May-June, and breed at the end of August.

Flight of Deilephila elpenor

Track weight

The caterpillar can lift a load approximately 25 times its own weight.

Spinning record

Cocoon silkworm consists of 4,601,100 meters of thread, manufactured in 72 hours.

Mutually beneficial cooperation

Yucca moth(yucca moth), which lives in the desert, is the only pollinator of flowering yucca cacti. Pollination occurs in the following way. A butterfly takes pollen from one cactus into its mouth and carries it to another cactus, flying towards the smell of flowers. Upon arrival, she unerringly unloads the pollen in the right place for the seeds to set. Here the butterfly lays three eggs, and its caterpillars feed on cactus seeds that were formed as a result of pollination. They use a small amount of seeds for food; most of the seeds are saved and give life to new plants.

Butterflies reproduce on a schedule

It turns out that butterflies are not “carefree” at all. There is nothing more orderly than their life. The morning is dedicated to collecting nectar. In the world of insects, the butterfly is the best pollinator of flowers after bees. By noon the hour of copulation arrives. Males chase females. Soon the latter lay eggs on the leaves. By evening, calm reigns again. The butterflies return to their shelter.

Copulating partners may belong to different types. The female moth of the Prince of Darkness (Attacus atlas) formed a pair with the male day blue Guiana Morpho. The female Attacus emitted her sensual enzymes, her smell was so strong that it was felt at a distance even by people. Copulation lasted only 10 minutes. The female laid eggs. But to no avail. In Attacus butterflies, copulation can last up to 36 hours, and the female can lay 200 eggs. Therefore, it is necessary for the male to ensure fertilization. He has to work hard!

Poisonous Blood

Parridae (Zygaenidae) stand out immediately - their black body is cast with steel, their wings are with scarlet spots. They are slow and clumsy and do not fly well. As soon as you pick up a butterfly, it pretends to be dead, releasing a yellow, foul-smelling liquid from its joints. This is the poisonous blood of the pest, making it inedible. That’s why butterflies sit calmly on plants, warning everyone with their coloring. Their caterpillars are also poisonous.

The rarest butterfly
For the title of the most rare butterfly Several species claim, including the largest of all butterflies - Queen Alexandra's sailing ship. She lives in Papua New Guinea. The survival of this species has not been helped in any way by the attention paid to it by collectors.

Climate change threatens monarchs
Monarch butterflies, which travel hundreds of kilometers to spend the winter in Mexico's mountain forests, could disappear within 50 years. Rainy weather combined with the cold weather that characterizes these places, can cause the extinction of these colorful butterflies. Increased humidity in the mountains coniferous forests west of Mexico City will leave butterflies without any shelter for the winter.

Monarchs are the most common of North American butterflies. They breed several times each summer, and the last generation makes a record migration in the fall, moving into Mexico from as far away as Canada. There they live in forests that provide shelter from rain and cold (temperatures here can drop below zero). In the spring, surviving monarchs return north, stopping in milkweed fields to lay their eggs. The butterflies hatched from them continue their journey to the north, from where the next migration to the south will begin in the fall.

These butterflies have a very narrow range of temperatures and humidity that they can tolerate in winter. So, the combination of temperatures below zero with rain is almost fatal for them. When this happened in January 2002, almost 80% of the butterflies wintering in Mexico died.

Butterfly color
The color of their wings is created by tiny overlapping scales that reflect light.

Twig caterpillars

Moth caterpillars (Geometridae) have an amazing ability to imitate twigs and petioles, which is facilitated by their protective coloring. Frozen in such a “protruding” state, the caterpillar becomes invisible to enemies. Butterflies also got their name moths, or surveyors, due to the peculiar way their caterpillars move. In moth caterpillars, the abdominal legs are developed only on the sixth and last segments of the abdomen, which is associated with a peculiar “gait” with a loop-like bending of the body.

Butterflies don't fly towards the light

They are attracted to the darkest place, which they believe is located directly behind the light source.

Travelers

Moth moths (Pyraustidae) resemble moths in appearance. Butterflies have a wingspan of 20-25 mm and are variable in color. They feed on flowers around the clock. They migrate in search of food, covering up to a kilometer a day. They overwinter in the soil in a cocoon. Butterflies fly over a distance of 30-100 km, and are carried by the wind 400-500 km. Meadow moth (Margaritia sticticalis) may cause outbreaks in the Baikal region mass reproduction, taking on the dimensions of a disaster.

Other travelers are hawk moths (Sphingidae), large butterflies with streamlined bodies and narrow wings. They reach speeds of up to 50 km per hour and fly over long distances.

Butterfly's plume

The luxurious plume of the male Saturnia butterfly serves to capture odorous pheromone molecules.

When the female is 2 km away

A male emperor moth can sense and locate a female of his species from a distance of two kilometers.

The odorous substance of butterflies

To obtain one gram of the odorous substance of butterflies, which females use to call males, it was necessary to “take away” it from four million butterflies silkworm.

U gypsy moth There is more odorous substance than mulberry: it takes 2.5 million butterflies to get a gram.

Males gypsy moth smell the female when moderate wind at a distance of 3.8 km. No foreign odors prevent them from smelling the desired smell.

Great Peacock Butterfly fly to the female, covering a distance of 8 km. From a distance of 4.1 km, almost half returned to the female sitting under the gauze in the cage, and from a distance of 11 km - more than a quarter of the released males.

Silkworms do not form pairs

That's why they called him gypsy moth(Lymantria dispar). Males and females differ greatly in appearance. Firstly, in size. Males (wingspan up to 45 mm) are significantly smaller than females, whose wingspan is up to 75 mm. Secondly, they also differ in color - the male is darker than the female. Its forewings are brownish-gray with transverse dark wavy stripes. The antennae are feathery, the abdomen is thin. The female is off-white in color, with clear zigzag stripes on the front wings. The abdomen is thickened, densely covered with brown-yellow hairs. The antennae are thin and comb-like.

The biggest butterfly

This swallowtail butterfly Ornithoptera alexandrae from Papua New Guinea. The wingspan of females can be more than 280 mm, and the weight can be more than 25 g. Some butterflies have a wingspan of 32 cm and occupy an area of ​​over 300 sq. km. They can be considered the largest insects. Other large butterfly was caught in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region September 17, 2003. The wingspan of the insect is 22.6 centimeters. This is 26 millimeters more than the butterfly caught in Canada, which was previously considered the largest in the world. And although the giants of the insect world live in the tropics, in our country there are also large insects: swallowtail butterflies, some peacock eyes and cocoon moths

The largest moth

...This Cosdinoscera hercules, living in Australia and New Guinea, whose wing area is 263.2 cm2 and their wingspan is 280 mm. In 1948, a capture was reported in Innisfail, pc. Queensland, Australia, females with a wingspan of 360 mm. The largest moth in the world reaches 30 cm in size - this is the prince of darkness called Attacus atlas, in nature it is found in the Atlas Mountains. This butterfly is considered the star of the Gonfleur Orangerie in Paris. The public can watch her gracefully dance among real jungles grown under glass walls.

Wing vibrations

Insects have different wings, and they vibrate at different frequencies. So, for example, a fly makes 330-350 strokes per second; bee - 300 when it flies with honey, and 440 when it flies without cargo; bumblebees flap their wings 190-240 times per second, and mosquitoes - 500-600 (some species even 1000 times); wasps – 250; horseflies – 100; dragonflies – 40-100; ladybug– 75; cockchafer – 45; moths – 35-40; locusts – 20.

The smallest butterfly

It lives in Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, Arabia, tropical zone Asia and Australia, the length of the front wing of which is only 6 mm. She is active during the day.

The smallest moth
...This Stigmella ridiculosa, living on the Canary Islands. Among all 165,000 species of Lepidoptera known to us, it is recognized as the smallest. Its wingspan and body length are approximately 2 mm.

Who likes to eat what?

Among butterflies, there are those whose caterpillars feed on wax and wool. These are wax moths and clothes moths, fur moths and other moths. But most butterflies live off wild plants.

Cabbage fly speed - 9 km/h
One-day flight speeds – 1.8 km/h

The sharpest sense of smell

...in a male peacock eye (Saturnia pavonia), which is able to smell the sexual attractant (pheromone) of a virgin female within a radius of 11 km. The female carries less than 0.0001 mg of this odorous substance, which turned out to be a higher alcohol (C16H29OH).

Maternal cares

Having laid their eggs, butterflies take care of their safety, some butterflies lay them in the soil, others fill the eggs with secretions of glands that harden in the air - a capsule is obtained, the capsules are usually camouflaged to match the color of the surface. Another method is that insects cover the testicles with hairs or scales, which are scraped from the abdomen.

Caterpillars

They actively feed, grow and accumulate substances for the next transformations. During their growth, silkworm caterpillars increase their mass by 10 thousand times. Most caterpillars lead a free lifestyle, but some are attached to their habitats: some live in the soil, others build apartments for themselves from leaves, and others live in fruits.

Monarch caterpillar

Farthest migration

In Danaid butterflies. Marked female Danaus butterflies Danaus plexippusi, released by Donald Davis in Presqu'ile Park near Brighton, Ontario Ave., Canada, September 6, 1986, was recaptured 3,432 km away, on a mountain near Añangueo, Mexico, January 15, 1987.

The shortest life
...y true mayfly (family Ephemmeroidae), which spends 2-3 years in the larval stage at the bottom of lakes and rivers, while adult butterflies live 2-3 days, sometimes even just a day.

Danaid hatching

Highest flight speed among insects

U cutworms upsilon Agrotis ipsilon, a butterfly with a wingspan of 45 mm, which can reach 97 and even 113 km/h. The flight speed of an insect depends on its mass, air temperature, humidity, solar radiation, wind speed, oxygen saturation of the air, flight angle and even habitat isolation. There is reliable data regarding the flight speed of the cotton bollworm Helicoverpa zea - ​​28 km/h.

Longest diapause

The yucca butterfly (yucca moth) from the family Prodoxidae has the longest diapause. Adult Yucca baccata (Agavaceae) insects from Nevada emerged from larvae after 19 years, during which time they were monitored in the laboratory.

Yucca

Internal clock

During their winter migration to Mexico, monarch butterflies determine the direction of their journey... by their internal clock. In the fall, monarchs travel from the central and eastern parts North America to Central Mexico. Since only every fourth or fifth generation of butterflies migrates, they migrate instinctively. Although scientists have established with some certainty that butterflies use the sun to navigate, much less was known about how they adapt to the sun's movements throughout the day. Some researchers suspected that part of butterflies' solar compass was their circadian rhythm, their "internal clock." Scientists have discovered that a common "clock gene" called per is an important part of the monarch butterfly's internal clock. Constant lighting disrupts the functioning of this gene. After several days of living in the laboratory, where the day length was approximately equal to natural for autumn, the butterflies retained right direction to the southwest. Butterflies for which the light regime was shifted (lighting from one in the morning to one in the afternoon) chose the southeast. Those who were under constant illumination flew straight towards the sun - apparently they had lost their sense of time.

Butterflies are arthropods - the most highly developed animals among invertebrates. They got their name from the presence of articulated tubular limbs. To others characteristic feature is the external skeleton formed by plates of a durable polysaccharide - quinine. In arthropods, due to the development of a durable outer shell and articulated limbs, complex system muscles attached from the inside to the integument. All movements of their body parts and internal organs are associated with muscles.

1- abdomen
2- breast
3- head with antennae
4- proboscis
5, 8, 9 - front, middle and hind legs
6, 7 - first and second pair of wings

Body of butterflies consists of three sections: head, chest and abdomen. With a webbed, short and soft neck, the head is attached to the chest, which consists of three segments motionlessly connected to each other. The connection points are not noticeable. Each of the segments bears a pair of jointed legs. Butterflies have three pairs of legs on their chest. The forelegs of male nymphalids and satyr pigeons are underdeveloped; in females they are more developed, but when walking they are also not used and are always pressed to the chest. In swallowtails and fatheads, all legs are normally developed, and the tibiae of their front legs are equipped with lobe-like structures, which are believed to be used for cleaning the eyes and antennae. In butterflies, legs serve mainly for anchoring certain place and only then - for movement. Some butterflies have taste buds on their legs: before such a butterfly touches the sweet solution with its limb, it does not open its proboscis and does not start eating.

The head contains mouthparts, antennae and eyes. The oral apparatus of the sucking type is a non-segmented, spirally curled, long tubular proboscis at rest. The lower jaw and lower lip take part in its formation. Butterflies have no upper jaws. While eating, the butterfly straightens long proboscis, plunging it deep into the flower and sucking out the nectar. Adult lepidoptera use nectar as the main source of food, and therefore are among the main pollinators of flowering plants. All insects, including butterflies, have a special organ called the Jones organ, designed to analyze shaking and sound vibrations. With the help of this organ, insects not only assess the state of the physical environment, but also communicate with each other.

Internal structure

Butterflies have perfect nervous system and sensory organs, thanks to which they are well oriented in their surroundings and quickly respond to danger signals. Nervous system, like all arthropods, consists of a peripharyngeal ring and a ventral nerve cord. In the head as a result of the merging of clusters nerve cells the brain is formed. This system controls all movements of the butterfly, except for such involuntary functions as blood circulation, digestion, and breathing. Researchers believe that these functions are controlled by the sympathetic nervous system.

1- excretory organs
2- middle intestine
3- goiter
4- heart
5- anterior intestine
6- large intestine
7- genitals
8th nerve ganglion
9- brain

Circulatory system , like all arthropods, not closed. The blood directly washes internal organs and tissues, being in the body cavity, transferring nutrients to them and carrying harmful waste products to the excretory organs. It does not participate in the transfer of oxygen and carbon dioxide, that is, in respiration. Its movement is ensured by the work of the heart - a longitudinal muscular tube located in the dorsal part above the intestines. The heart, pulsating rhythmically, drives blood to the head end of the body. The backflow of blood is prevented by the heart valves. When the heart expands, blood enters it from the back of the body through its side openings, which are equipped with valves that prevent blood from flowing back. In the body cavity, unlike the heart, blood flows from the front end to the back, and then, entering the heart as a result of its pulsation, it is again directed to the head.

Respiratory system It is a dense network of branched internal tubes - tracheas, through which air, entering through the external spiracles, is delivered directly to all internal organs and tissues.

Excretory system - this is a bundle of thin tubes, the so-called Malpighian vessels, located in the body cavity. They are closed at the tops, and open at the bases into the intestines. Metabolic products are filtered out by the entire surface of the Malpighian vessels, and then inside the vessels they turn into crystals. Then they enter the intestinal cavity and, together with undigested food debris, are excreted from the body. Some harmful substances, especially poisons, accumulate and are isolated in the fat body.

Reproductive system females consist of two ovaries in which the formation of eggs occurs. The ovaries, passing into tubular oviducts, merge at their bases into a single unpaired oviduct, through which mature eggs are released. In the female reproductive system there is a spermatheca - a reservoir into which male sperm enter. Mature eggs can be fertilized by these sperm. The reproductive organs of the male are two testes that pass into the vas deferens, which unite into an unpaired ejaculatory duct, which serves to remove sperm.

Popular news

Stingrays, like sharks, are among the most ancient fish. They are unique in that they do not use their tail to swim, as other fish do. Stingrays move only due to the movements of their fins, reminiscent of butterflies.

Most stingrays live in sea ​​water, however, there are also several freshwater species.

Stingrays are characterized by a very “flattened” body and large pectoral fins fused with the head. The mouth, nostrils and five pairs of gills are on the flat and usually light-colored underside.

The upper side of stingrays is adapted in color to a particular living space and can vary from light sand to black.

Stingrays can be found in different parts of our earth. They are even found off the coasts of Antarctica and in the Arctic Ocean.

The size of stingrays varies from a few centimeters to several meters, and the “wingspan” of some stingrays can be more than 2 meters.

One of the most known species One of the most popular stingrays is the Manta Ray, whose wingspan can reach 2.5 meters and length - up to 5 meters! Stingrays from the stingray family are also very large and reach 2.1 meters in width and up to 5.5 meters in length. A relatively large stingray - sea ​​cat- found in the Azov and Black Seas.

Stingrays are very ancient fish. They are relatives of sharks, and the closest relatives, although external similarities and is not observed. In terms of internal composition, stingrays, like sharks, consist not of bones, but of cartilage.

In ancient times, stingrays were similar to sharks not only internal structure, but also external features. But time has changed them beyond recognition.

Most stingrays lead a bottom-dwelling lifestyle and feed on mollusks and crustaceans.

Stingrays have a unique respiratory system. If you take other fish, they breathe with gills. However, if the stingray tried to do the same, then along with the air it would also suck in the sand lying at the bottom. That's why stingrays breathe differently. Air enters the stingray's body through special sprays that are located on the back. His eyes are also located there (visible in the photograph).

A squad of electric stingrays is endowed with a special “weapon”, which, with the help of a special organ made from transformed muscles, can paralyze prey with electrical discharges from 60 to 230 volts and over 30 amperes.

By the way, all stingrays can generate electricity, but not to the same extent as the electric stingray.

The man reached the stingrays. Their leather is very durable and has an unusual texture, so it is used in the leather industry for the manufacture of wallets, belts, bags, briefcases, etc. Stingray wings are a delicacy in Portuguese cuisine.

A few more photos from the photo shoot with stingrays in the Cayman Islands.

The eyes of a stingray and the breathing holes on the back.

When such a thing “flies” next to you unusual fish, it makes a lasting impression. Stingrays are real butterflies of the seas and oceans.

All metabolic processes in the body are based on an oxidation reaction, which releases energy used for life. As an oxidizing agent, all life on planet Earth uses the oxygen contained in the air. Butterflies do not have an organ similar to lungs, but they do have an air exchange system, and it is quite effective. Oxygen enters through the spiracles (stigmas) located on the chest and abdomen of the butterfly. There are up to 10 pairs of them, they are placed on the sides. The stigma further opens into the trachea (breathing tube), which, gradually becoming thinner, wraps around the internal organs. The movement of air through the respiratory tubes is ensured by constant and rhythmic contractions of the abdomen. The number of contractions varies depending on the physiological state of the butterfly and the need for oxygen. The spiracles are protected from the entry of foreign objects and substances by an abundance of hairs. At unfavorable conditions and the irritation of stigma, it has the ability to close and open.