The lemongrass butterfly is the first insect of spring. Interesting facts about butterflies for children

An interesting fact is that the insect can feel good both in constantly warm and predominantly cold regions.

But, no matter what area the butterfly lives in, it chooses light forests and gardens, dense hedges, and shrubs to live, especially if buckthorn, a plant that caterpillars feed on, grows nearby. Average lemongrass butterfly size, has reached maturity - 30 mm. The overall wingspan ranges from 52 to 60 mm.

Capture lemongrass butterfly in the photo very difficult, since this is a very mobile and timid insect that needs protection due to the fact that it does not cause any harm to cultivated plants. Some species of lemongrass are under threat of extinction due to their displacement from familiar environment habitat.

Males of this species have bright yellow or greenish-yellow upper wings, which attract the attention of females. The upper wings of females are much paler, with a slight green tint; the dots in the center of the wings are gray. Watching them in flight, you can easily confuse lemongrass with cabbageweed (the latter have white wings).

It is difficult to determine the sex of an individual by looking at the inside of the wings, however, according to the description of the lemongrass butterfly, the females and on this side are much more modest and paler than the males, their coloring is pale yellow or white. The abdomen and thorax of the insect are dark in color with dense white hairs.

Regardless of the sex of the insect, the shape of the wings of all representatives is the same - the top of the front wing resembles a point and it seems as if the wings were cut off by a sharp object.

There are small red or orange dots in the center of all four wings, making the lemongrass look similar to the Cleopatra's white frog, which has a red stripe on its forewings. The undersides of both sexes are light green.

Interesting feature is that yellow butterfly lemongrass never lands with its wings open. When not in flight, it folds its wings for the purpose of camouflage; from the outside, one can mistake the butterfly for an ordinary leaf.

Character and lifestyle

Already in early January, under the first warm sun rays you can see lemongrass. A butterfly is an insect whose life is quite short, but representatives of this species can live more than a year. The second flight of the butterfly occurs in July and can last until late autumn(depending on weather conditions).

The long life span of the insect is due to periodic diapauses, which can last up to several weeks, after which a period of activity begins again. The insect overwinters in warm, protected places. Thanks to the body hair and the special composition of fluid in the body, the butterfly does not freeze.

A large number of individuals can be found in meadows, shrubs, and forests. Another interesting fact about lemongrass is that they do not like dense forests and tree plantations. Some species of lemongrass butterflies, and there are about 16 of them, they choose mountainous areas as their permanent habitat, but these insects have not been seen above 2000 meters.

Nutrition

The number of individuals of some butterflies decreases every year, as the plants they prefer disappear. But what the lemongrass butterfly eats depends on permanent place her habitat.

Thus the butterfly adapts to environment, gradually expanding your diet. The nutrition of an adult is replete with variety - it can be nectar large quantity different plants, mostly wild ( birch sap, burdock, thistle, cornflower, etc.).

For country houses and garden plots the butterfly flies in only in cases of extreme need - when there is no wild alternative nearby. However, this cannot be said about lemongrass caterpillars, which feed exclusively on buckthorn leaves (the second name for the butterfly is buckthorn).

Reproduction and lifespan

During the period of sexual activity, the mating stage begins with intricate dances performed by males. This spectacle looks quite impressive due to the fact that what does a lemongrass butterfly look like?. By flashing his bright yellow wings, the male tries to attract the female’s attention, but at first he keeps a considerable distance from his chosen one.

Eggs are pale yellow or white The female lays out an elongated shape one at a time (in rare cases, their number can reach up to 5), securely gluing them to the buds or stalks of buckthorn.

Laying occurs in May, when the leaves have not yet had time to unfold. Since this is the plant that newborn caterpillars prefer, immediately before laying eggs, the female may for a long time fly in search of this tree.

Limonaria butterfly caterpillars hatch between early May and early June. The babies are smooth, without hairs, with a green back and light sides; it is very difficult to notice them with the naked eye due to their good camouflage.

However, if you find and try to touch the baby, she will raise the front of her body threateningly in defense. In this case, the caterpillars secrete a liquid with a pungent odor that is not noticeable to humans.

The caterpillar's body is covered with black dots in the middle of which a small spike can be seen. For about a month, the caterpillars feed on buckthorn, mainly located on the lower part of the leaf.

When the insect eats the parenchyma, it leaves top part leaves intact, thereby causing no harm to the plant. The duration of the caterpillar's growth period depends on the weather - in warm, sunny weather the insect reaches mature age in 3 weeks, in cloudy and cool weather - in 4-7 weeks.

Lemongrass butterflies in summer

The caterpillar goes through several periods of molting. As a rule, July is the month of pupation. The pupae are also green in color and well camouflaged. They have an elongated angular shape with a wide chest.

After the butterfly emerges from the pupa, it spends the rest of the summer circling over the meadows and feeding on nectar. In order to survive in winter, she needs to accumulate a large supply of nutrients.

By the end of August, most individuals find a suitable place and fall into a sleep that will last throughout the winter. There are exceptions - some butterflies are in no hurry to retire and can flutter until mid-autumn.

Limonaria butterfly caterpillar

The insect carefully selects a closed place to sleep; the most common option is a dense one. evergreen shrub, for example ivy. Every year the lemongrass makes only one clutch, from which one new generation is obtained, despite the fact that the insect flies twice.

Or buckthorn, scientific name - Gonepteryx rhamni. Belongs to the family. The butterfly is easy to identify by its wings - they seem to be cut off by something sharp. The male Lemongrass is bright yellow, the female is greenish-white. There is a red-orange spot in the middle of each wing. Wingspan 50-55 mm.

Lemongrass appears at the first rays of spring, so it is considered one of the first butterflies of spring. She appears for the second time in July and flies until autumn. It flies twice a year, but has only one generation. Lemongrass is considered a long-lived butterfly; it can live up to 13 months, although it will spend most of its time hibernating.

The Lemongrass butterfly never lands with its wings open. The shape of the wings is considered almost unique; it plays the role of cover and camouflage while the butterfly is hibernating or resting. .

Interestingly, many butterflies are becoming extinct due to the disappearance of the plants on which they feed. Lemongrass came out of the situation differently: they began to eat a wider range of plants.

Lemongrass butterflies spend the summer feeding on nectar, gaining strength for the winter, and by the end of August they fall into their long sleep. But warm weather in January may awaken some males looking for a female.

Signs: The length of the front wings is up to 3 cm.
The male has bright yellow wings with 4 orange-red spots, one on each wing. The color of the female is much paler, but there are spots on the wings. At a quick glance, a flying female can be confused with one of the cabbage ducks.

Flight location: It flies almost everywhere - in sparse forests, over heathers, in water meadows and gardens, in mountains at an altitude of up to 2000 m.

Europe. Russia. North Africa, partly Asia.
In Europe it is absent only in the far north from England to Scandinavia, and in the south - in Crete.

Flight frequency: Widely distributed, but not found in large quantities anywhere.

Flight time: Life cycle The lemongrass differs from other butterflies: it flies for an extremely long time and is considered the longest-lived among butterflies. It begins to fly in July (in the European part of Russia it emerges from pupae in early summer) and flies until autumn and next spring. In order to energetically withstand such a long period, the butterfly arranges numerous “diapauses”. She flies for several days, then falls into torpor for several weeks, then, under favorable conditions, becomes active again for several days. These days she feeds on nectar to make a new energy reserve. In spring you can observe mating flights. The female flies in front, and the male follows her, maintaining a constant distance. It appears as if he is being dragged or held on invisible thread. Mating occurs when the first buds appear on buckthorn and zoster. This is where the female lays her eggs. To keep them on the leaves, she envelops them with an adhesive mass.

Caterpillar stage: In June, small caterpillars hatch. They are matte yellow, lighter on the sides, with a light matte-whitish stripe running above the legs. Thanks to this coloring, the caterpillar can camouflage itself very well, according to the principle of contrasting colors (dark on top, light on bottom). Thanks to this, its contours blur. This method of camouflage is needed by caterpillars to protect them from the watchful eyes of songbirds. In July, i.e. After four weeks, the caterpillars pupate. The duration of the caterpillar stage depends on the weather. If the weather is cold and damp, then its development slows down, because the caterpillars then eat less. On warm and dry days, their growth accelerates and the duration of the caterpillar stage is reduced.

Forage plants: Limonaria caterpillars feed on the leaves of buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula), from which the Latin name of the species is derived.

General information: In all of Europe, only one species is known, with minor variations. In the south there are specimens with wings up to 3.3 cm in size, f. meridionalis. Whether it is one of the aberrations or an independent subspecies is not known. Ecological adaptation is supported by the fact that Gonepteryx cleopatra L., an undoubted competitor of lemongrass, lives in the same region. For competitors to coexist in the same territory, they must be separated in space or time. Interestingly, Gonepteryx cleopatra varies greatly. Apparently he is a more skilled specialist than lemongrass.
In addition to an unusually long life expectancy, lemongrass has another unusual ability: It is capable of overwintering without any protection near the soil or in dry foliage on the soil. It is able to withstand temperatures well below zero. And even vice versa, a mild winter creates additional difficulties for her, because... energy consumption at more high temperature increases and therefore its reserves dry up faster. The cold resistance of lemongrass is explained by the liquid in its body, which is a mixture of water, protein and salts.

As soon as the sun warms up in the spring, you can see butterflies fluttering over the grass. This is on Earth, there is a huge variety of their species. They are diurnal and nocturnal, large and small, they differ in life expectancy and type of nutrition. The first to appear in the spring is the lemongrass butterfly. She is one of the few that can survive the winter.

There are butterflies that are inconspicuous and pale, but there are such beauties that you can’t take your eyes off them. They get their color thanks to the arrangement and different shades of the smallest scales that cover their wings. Because of this, they become slippery, which helps butterflies to escape from enemies. And these beauties have a lot of the latter; not only birds love to feast on them.

Therefore, some butterflies have protective colors, for example, merging with the bark of a tree. Others, on the contrary, are protected by bright colors, colored spots similar to eyes. Such beauties are also in danger of being caught by humans.

Butterflies in Russia are very beautiful and diverse: swallowtail, purpletail, mother-of-pearl, iridescent, admiral - these names were given to them in connection with the peculiarities of the color and structure of the wings. Some get their name from what their caterpillars feed on: wren, cabbage, raspberry and plum tail.

In general, butterflies, like all insects, benefit by pollinating plants,

They provide food for birds and even help control weeds.

But many lay their eggs on and the hatched caterpillars cause great damage agriculture. These include: By itself, it does not cause any harm, since it feeds on nectar, but its larvae live on cabbage and are capable of turning a head of cabbage into a lace skeleton.

One of the most common is the lemongrass butterfly. She belongs to the whitefish family. True, males are yellow-green in color, and females are white with a greenish tint. They have a special shape of wings, always with one orange spot on each. Thanks to special structure, the insect practically merges with the plants.

The lemongrass butterfly lays eggs, one at a time, on the leaves of joster or buckthorn. Their larvae can feed only on these plants. That's why this butterfly is also called the butterfly. She herself feeds on nectar and carries pollen, pollinating plants. Of course, she also needs water. Butterflies drink dew or suck moisture from the ground. For this they have long proboscis.

Their caterpillars are inconspicuous, green in color, they hide well from enemies. After hatching from the pupa, the lemongrass butterfly feeds on nectar for the rest of the summer and reserves strength for wintering. In order to survive the winter, she usually looks for old ivy. During the entire summer, only one generation of these insects hatches.

People have long been attracted by the beauty of butterflies. They called them living flowers. People have always collected collections by pinning these beauties to album sheets. But in lately Live butterflies are popular. Exhibitions are organized where people admire not only their beauty, but also their flight.

Scientists call lemongrass a genus of butterflies that is part of the white butterfly family. The closest relatives of these lepidopterans are considered to be cabbage and reptiles. In total, researchers were able to discover 16 species of lemongrass in the world.

What does a lemongrass butterfly look like?

The most common species of the lemongrass genus is the common lemongrass, also known as buckthorn (Gonepteryx rhamni). All representatives of the genus are distinguished by a characteristic color: a rich yellow tint of the wings. However, only male butterflies can boast of such beauty; sometimes their wings reach a bright orange tone. As for female lemongrass, their color is light green, and sometimes even white.

Another difference between lemongrass is the small inclusions that can be seen in the center of each butterfly wing. When an insect spreads its wings, their span ranges from 3 to 6 centimeters.

Where does lemongrass live?

The habitat of these representatives of the order Lepidoptera covers Malaya and Central Asia, the Caucasus region, southern Siberia, the entire territory of Europe, as well as the Mediterranean and North Africa. In some countries they live rare species lemongrass, for example: mahaguru schisandra lives in Korea and Japan, and on the island of Madeira (located near the northwestern coast of Africa) you can find an endemic species - Madeira schisandra.

The lifestyle of the lemongrass butterfly: what is its peculiarity?

The largest concentrations of lemongrass can be seen in the meadow, as well as near thickets of bushes and tree plantations. However, they avoid very dense forests, trying to stay more open space. If lemongrass settles in mountainous areas, then the altitude of their habitat does not exceed 2000 meters.

According to the lifestyle of lemongrass - day butterflies. In addition, they are one of the earliest representatives of Lepidoptera. In autumn, their flights can be observed until October, and with the onset of spring (in March), lemongrass is right there again.

Nutrition of the lemongrass butterfly

As for the nutrition of lemongrass, it is worth especially noting that at the caterpillar stage they are especially picky and eat only the leafy part of the plant called buckthorn (for which the butterfly received its middle name). The diet of adult lemongrass is more varied: they collect nectar from many plants.

Reproduction of buckthorns

These butterflies have mating season You can observe the intricate dances that males perform to attract a partner.

Lemongrass eggs are laid one at a time: they are glued by a butterfly to the leaves, as well as to the stems of buckthorn. The lemongrass egg has a yellow or white tint. With the onset of May, and sometimes June, lemongrass caterpillars are born. The body of the caterpillars has a smooth structure and no hairs. The caterpillar lives in its stage for about one month. Pupation occurs in July. Lemongrass survives wintering as an adult.