Happy 2012!

Who is this enjoying nectar from a lantana flower?

Why, it’s a skipper!

Don’t skippers hold their wings in an interesting way? The forewings are over the back like a butterfly, and hindwings are down like a moth. Maybe that is one reason people think they are butterflies that are closely related to moths.

The larvae often feed on grasses. Many build themselves shelters by tying the leaf blades together with silk, like this one.

Have you ever seen a skipper larva?

Both of these book caught our eye because of the brilliant monarch butterflies on the cover. Right now the monarchs are migrating, and what better way to learn about it than reading a good book? Monarch Butterfly’s Journey starts out with the life cycle of the monarch butterfly, chronicling the stages of metamorphosis. Once the adult butterfly emerges from the chrysalis, it feeds on nectar to get ready for the long journey ahead. Soon fall arrives and the monarchs head off on their long migration to Mexico. In the spring, the butterflies head north again. In the backmatter is a one page summary of the journey.

The illustrations are bright mixed-media collages by Susan Swan. I am not a huge fan of collage art in children’s books that tries for ultra-realism, but Swan’s butterflies are an example of how it should be done. They are fascinating and fun, with a high level of energy. I love the humorous side comments of the insects which make comments in their own cartoon bubbles. One butterfly asks, “Are we there yet?”

Grow Your Own Butterfly Farm by John Malam takes another tack, presenting the butterflies with food in the form of flowering plants so you can enjoy them in your own yard. This book starts with some facts, such as what butterflies are, what wildflowers are, and why we need butterflies. There are simple instructions for planting wildflowers and starting a garden to attract butterflies. (Oddly, on pages 16 and 17, there’s a section about how cats and birds do damage to newly planted gardens and how to keep them out of your seed beds. Because any animal can do damage to a garden, including dogs, goats and chickens, I’m wondering why cats were singled out?) At the end, the author suggests letting the plants go to seed for next year’s crop.

This book is illustrated with large color photographs with a lot of pretty butterflies and flowers. It is designed to be read by the child, so the sentences are short and it has simple vocabulary words with a glossary. It is a cute book to inspire youngsters to become butterfly gardeners.

If you have a young child interested in insects or if you are doing a unit on butterflies, you should take a look at these books.

Grow Your Own Butterfly Farm by John Malam

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: Heinemann-Raintree (August 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1432951165
ISBN-13: 978-1432951160

Monarch Butterfly’s Journey by Suzanne Buckingham Slade and illustrated by Susan Swan

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 24 pages
Publisher: Picture Window Books (August 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1404870296
ISBN-13: 978-1404870291

These books were provided by the publisher for review purposes.

These are small hornworm larvae (Manduca). To give you scale, the white bump on its side is a whitefly.

The plant the hornworms are chewing on.

If you are interested in more information and science activities for kids, try the Manduca Project.

No cropping was needed to capture this hackberry butterfly (named for the fact its caterpillars feed on the foliage of hackberry trees.) It was willing to pose.

Note about the photograph from last week:

Did anyone spot the egg this queen butterfly had just laid on the milkweed vine?

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What is happening here?

(Look at the life cycle info in this post.)

If you look closely you can see that the butterflies are persistently probing the damp soil with their mouthparts (proboscis).

This behavior is called “puddling.” (See previous post for more about puddling).

With the more delicate black markings on their wings, these are two-tailed swallowtails, Papilio multicaudata, rather that tiger swallowtails. Ironically, the two-tailed swallowtail is the state butterfly of Arizona and I had to travel to Colorado to see one.

Firefly Forest has more information about two-tailed swallowtails.

Have you ever seen butterflies puddling? Do two-tailed swallowtails live in your area?

And yes, there are a few things to see in Colorado besides butterflies:

Aston and Long have collaborated on two other wonderful books, A Egg is Quiet and A Seed is Sleepy. If you are familiar with those books, you will know to expect extraordinary illustrations and accurate, age-appropriate information written in lyrical text. In this book all about butterflies, they have outdone even themselves. A Butterfly Is Patient is definitely inspiring!

Activities to learn more about butterflies:

1. Study Caterpillar and Butterfly Anatomy

Have you ever spent time actually studying the parts of a caterpillar or butterfly? I know, it may be hard to look past the bright colors and beauty, but studying how these animals go together helps you appreciate them in a different way.

Try to find a smooth caterpillar like this tobacco hornworm (some of the fuzzy or spiky ones have stinging hairs, so don’t pick up those.) Gently coax it onto a leaf or stem where you can observe it with a hand lens. See if you can find the following organs and structures.

In this side view of a moth caterpillar, we can see the thorax (the three segments right behind the head), and the abdomen quite clearly. The thorax is where we find the six true legs, which are the identifying characteristics of insects. What are those fleshy appendages on the abdomen, aren’t those legs? From a scientific perspective, those are not true legs, but are called prolegs. They are used for walking and clinging to leaves just like legs, but they lack the joints of a true leg.  As you will see, the adult will have only the true legs.

The small circles on the sides of the caterpillar are spiracles, the openings through the insect’s exoskeleton that allow it to take in air.

In this view, we can see the caterpillar’s head. At the bottom of the head are the mandibles, the pruning scissor-like jaws that it uses to cut food. Slightly above and to the side of the jaws are the ocelli, which are simple eye spots. The caterpillar probably doesn’t see much with those tiny spots, maybe only whether it is light or dark out. This photograph shows a better view of the jointed legs.

After the caterpillar transforms into a pupa and then a butterfly, we see different structures.

What a transformation!

Instead of tiny ocelli on its head, the butterfly has large compound eyes. The mouth has become a long tube for sucking nectar from flowers (some butterflies actually lack a mouth altogether). There were antennal buds on the head of the caterpillar, but now the butterfly has full blown antennae.

The true legs are long and delicate and the prolegs are gone. Attached to the thorax are the wings. If you read a book about how to identify butterflies, it will probably describe markings on the upper or forewings, or the lower hind wings. The raised structures in the wings, called wing veins, are also important for identification.

Can you find the mouthparts and the spiracles on this giant swallowtail butterfly?

Activity 2. Butterfly Life Cycle

Butterflies go through a complex series of changes during the life cycle, a process called complete metamorphosis.

Let’s explore the life cycle of the queen butterfly, and then make a poster.

The queen butterfly starts out life as an egg laid by the female butterfly on a milkweed plant.

A caterpillar emerges from the egg, and begins to feed on the plant.

When it has reached its full size, the caterpillar transforms into a chrysalis.

After a week or so, out comes the adult butterfly.

Use this information to prepare a butterfly life cycle poster, perhaps like this one from Enchanted Learning.

For more photographs, try these related posts:

• Butterfly eggs
• Butterfly larvae or caterpillars
• Chrysalises
• The Queen butterfly emerges

Activity 3. Raise a butterfly or moth

At some point in their childhood, most budding scientists raise a caterpillar to find out what it turns out to be.

• You might want to start with silkworms, which can be raised on an artificial diet or mulberry leaves.
• Learn the ins and outs of raising caterpillars.

Activity 4. Make a colorful coffee filter butterfly craft here at Growing With Science

Activity 5. Butterfly gardening

It is amazing that you can bring butterflies into your yard by planting a few special plants. You can then watch the life cycles in a more natural setting.

Some butterfly favorite plants are:

• milkweeds (monarchs, queens)
• lantana
• butterfly bush
• ageratum (attracts male queen butterflies)
• dill, fennel or parsley (swallowtails)
• hollyhocks (painted lady)
• passion flower (fritillaries)

For more ideas, see our  butterfly gardening post.

Monarch Watch has lesson plans, a ton of information about monarchs, and ideas for more activities.

And don’t forget to read some books about butterflies, including A Butterfly Is Patient by Dianna Hutts Aston

A Seed Is Sleepy

An Egg Is Quiet

This book was provided for review purposes.

Flowers dressing up with a bee for jewelry.

The warm brown seed beetle looks rather like the seed it was born inside.

Another kind of green malachite attracts your eye.

Captivating captive beauties.

Feels like we need some words of wisdom today. How about:

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.  ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

Okay, it is very small, but between the legs of the butterfly is a newly hatched caterpillar. See the little guy with the black head at the arrow tip? It is a monarch butterfly caterpillar.

In this video, you can see one hatching under a microscope. (Video has music).

Another insect is hidden within those dark-colored aphids.

See the ones that are black or dark red? They are parasitized, which means they are carrying a tiny wasp larva inside them.

Eventually the dark aphids will stiffen and cling to the stem. In that stage they are called an aphid mummy. After a few days the larvae inside will complete its life cycle, pupate and then emerge as an adult wasp.

Photograph by Sarefo

You can see where a wasp emerged from this aphid mummy through the round hole in the back.

Here’s the tiny wasp that emerged from the hole. She will lay her eggs in yet more aphids, resulting in yet more aphid mummies.

Finally, there is one other interesting thing about this picture. See that the butterfly has its mouthparts extended? I watched this butterfly for several minutes before taking its picture. It was sucking up the honeydew from the aphids.

We got to see all this because we planted a special plant in our yard. Do you have any plants that attract insects in your yard?