NHM Butterfly Exhibit #10

Papilio palinurus or Papilio daedalus 

Visit #10!! This was magnificent as always. Because it's towards the end of the season it was alot calmer and not so many people and not as many butterflies but still plentiful. Hmmm lets see....there were TONS of atlas moths. At least 4-5 of them hidden throughout the blessed place and I managed to get some extremely nice photos of my lovely angels.

I also had Heliconius cydno and Idea leucanoe adorn my hat for atleast an hour each. They simply wouldn't leave and in the case of Idea leucanoe I would've walked out the door with it had the staff not "intervened" (I was all for taking it home too :P).

Obeservations:

Papilio palinurus

There were 2. First one was perched up in the vegetation second one was flying around and had brushed against me and landed on the floor. One of the staff had picked it up and it was off flying again. It had reached the heat lights and the feeders. And I guess the light from the light fixtures emphasized this but as it was flying around the green of it's wings changed from green to blue to green again in various shades streaked with gold and silver.......*.* Like glitter.

I must stress to you how breathtaking this was. This verse never rang truer:

"Safe and warm I was born in a beige colored coat
Then I traded for wings built to dazzle and float....."

 ɛïɜ

 I was standing there with my mouth open. Literally. It then settled on the vegetation and I proceeded to get pics (see above). And if you look hard enough you can see said iridescence and the fact that the green is darker here then lets say this one:

This one was perched high up and away from nearby light sources. Species wise friends and I were speculating between P. palinurus & P. daedalus. But I'm 99% sure is palinurus. I'll rant on this later in another entry. They had these here before on 2 other occasions but this is my first interaction with them.

All the other times they were just perched somewhere out of the way and then they'd vanish and not be seen again. XD So this was beyond lovely. And they're my new fave after today.

Danaus plexippus

They had more of them today then I ever remember them having within the 9 other times I've been here. I've observed something today that I never knew about my precious lovelies. They too are iridescent. The black wing tips of monarchs have a blue iridescence to them under light.

It was GORGEOUS!! *.*

New Additions:

1. Heliconius cydno galanthus f. exornata (?)
2. Hamadryas (Ageronia) amphione 
3. Papilio polytes f. romulus (Female)
4. Possible Anaea andria
And 2 nymphalids that may or may not be "new". I think one of them was a Chocolate Pansy (Junonia iphita) which I've already listed and the other is one of the leafwings but I don't recognize it.

Any ideas as to what this lovely angel might be? Only thing I can think of based on wing shape is Anaea andria, and if that's the case then another new lovely angel has to be officially added to the ever growing list. ^_^

Inputs and suggestions always appreciated.

ɛïɜ