Time for the bears. American White Butterfly

Butterflies got their name “bear” from the appearance of their caterpillars, whose bodies are covered with dark, long hairs. These caterpillars are really appearance They look like little bear cubs.

Dipper butterflies are perfectly protected from enemies: their blood is poisonous and bitter, and in addition, the bear has a frightening coloring. Caterpillars are also well protected; in addition to poisonous blood, they have poisonous hairs that provoke a severe allergic reaction in people.

Ursa butterflies come in medium to large sizes. As a rule, they are variegated and brightly colored. Their front wings are triangular in shape, wide and elongated. The wings are decorated with a pattern of stripes, lines and spots. The hind wings are not so variegated, yellow, red and Pink colour. When the bear is in a calm state, her wings fold into a house.

Their body is thick and completely covered with hairs. The legs are hairy and short. The antennae are comb-like.

Lifestyle of a bear

Bears live all over the world. There are about 11 thousand species of these butterflies. About 60 species live in the European part of our country.

Basically, these butterflies lead a nocturnal or twilight lifestyle, but certain types They fly during the day, for example, the plantain bear. The mouthparts of these butterflies are not developed, so they do not feed throughout their lives.

Bear caterpillars are polyphagous; they eat many shrubs and herbaceous plants, and they also damage numerous trees.

Before pupating, the caterpillar weaves a silky, loose cocoon. She braids the falling hairs into the walls of the cocoon. Inside the cocoon, the bear's pupae are motionless.

Lady Bear

One of the notable representatives of the family in middle lane is the lady bear. The wingspan of the butterfly reaches 55 millimeters. The hind wings of the lady bear are yellow or bright red.

These butterflies live in shady, damp places. They meet from June to July. Their habitats are ravines, rivers, forest clearings. Caterpillars eat leaves of bushes and herbaceous plants eg willow, blackberry and raspberry. The caterpillars spend the winter in the soil and pupate in the spring.

Kaya bear

Another widespread group of bears is the Kaya bear. These butterflies are very beautiful, and they are one of the largest in Russia, their wingspan reaches 80 millimeters.

The female bear kaya has coffee-brown forewings with white bands. The red hind wings have large black peas with a blue tint.

Kaya bears are found in late summer. The caterpillars are black and hairy. They appear in the fall and spend the winter. These caterpillars have a very thick covering of hairs, thanks to which they resemble furry animals. In times of danger, the caterpillar takes a protective position: it curls into a ring, thus protecting all its vital organs, and the body is reliably protected from enemies by thick poisonous hairs. When the caterpillars pupate, they hide under fallen trunks and stones and weave their cocoons there.

Hebe the Bear

The she-bear Hebe lives in the steppe zone of our country. The wingspan of this butterfly reaches 55 millimeters. Their forewings are light, outer edge there are black spots, and in the center there are 3 narrow black bands. The hind wings are reddish with black spots. These are night butterflies. They fly from May to July.

In school textbooks, familiarity with the order Lepidoptera is studied mainly on representatives of the group of diurnal butterflies. But the group of nocturnal butterflies (although they are present in the illustrations) is not deservedly ignored. It's no secret that many people don't even know about their existence.

Most moths are active at dusk or at night. Among other things, nocturnal butterflies differ from daytime butterflies not only in their temporary activity, but also in their structural features, because the body and wings of moths are thicker, and the color of the wings is duller and relatively monochromatic.

On Mikrul we have footage of the Ursa Kaya nocturnal moth, and we have the opportunity to expand knowledge about this representative, whose lifestyle takes place under the cover of darkness. The Kaya bear is a representative of the moths. Sitting on a flower, she folds her wings into a house. When in danger, the butterfly opens its bright red hind wings, scaring away enemies.

This bright one moth lives in Europe and Asia. In Russia it is found in Siberia, on Far East and throughout the central part of our country. Prefers moist habitats; there are also many of them in parks and gardens.

Wingspan 50-80 mm. The length of the front wing is 25-33 mm. The color of the upper side of the wings is brown-white with an irregular twisting pattern. The hind wings are orange-red and have spots on them. round shape black or of blue color. The Ursa Kaya's mouthparts are not developed and she does not feed during her life.

The body is plump and shaggy. The butterfly's abdomen is red, the head and chest are brown.

The main organs of vision in butterflies are its two large compound eyes, which occupy almost the entire upper part of the head, and long antennae. Each eye of a butterfly is a simple eye with a lens, containing a light-sensitive retina and nerve endings. Their visual acuity, like that of many other insects, is good only at close range, but they apparently see distant objects, but rather vaguely. Therefore, we can conclude that the eyes of butterflies are primarily intended for recording movements.

The limbs are dark brown with claws at the ends. The legs (three pairs) serve mainly for securing in a certain place and only then for movement.

On the upper wings there are broken white lines, as if someone tried to draw circles, but failed and made blots. This pattern is reminiscent of the pattern on the skins of a jaguar and giraffe. It is the scales on the wings that contain dyes, which give the butterfly its color.

The scales of butterflies that cover their wings and partly their body are modified Hittites. Hittites(or hairs, or bristles) - appendages of the skin, representing the appearance of hairs or bristles. These lamellar formations are arranged in a tile-like manner.

The two-layer cover of scales increases the lifting force of the wing during gliding flight, protects the butterfly from hypothermia, reduces noise and vibration during flapping flight, and also absorbs echolocation signals bats. In addition, the scales protect the wing from damage (when the wing hits a plant leaf or a drop, the resins in the scales break off, reducing the force of the impact and preventing the wing from sticking to the bark of trees) and contribute to the drainage of static electricity.

The brown chest is heavily furred and has a narrow red collar. Hairs form a thick cover on the body, which undoubtedly plays a role in regulating body temperature. In addition, the insect receives information about the state of the external environment.

And finally, we offer a small additional material to the question of careful attitude to everything living different nations, regarding the topic being studied.

People have always admired the beauty and grace of these “flying flowers”. Almost all peoples of the world have legends and beliefs about them. Ancient ideas about them are associated with the most important concepts for humans: life and death, soul, love, happiness. Until now, many people in Russia and other Slavic countries consider it their duty to drive away the moth from the fire on which it flies. According to surviving ancient beliefs, such a butterfly is the embodiment of the soul of a deceased ancestor, and the darkness of the night is associated with the other world. Therefore, in the south of Russia, when they see a butterfly circling around a candle flame or light bulbs, they commemorate the dead by calling their names. And in Poland, parents always forbid children to kill butterflies, teaching: “Don’t kill a butterfly - it won’t touch you, or maybe it’s your deceased grandfather or grandmother.” During a drought, Bulgarians ask a butterfly for rain. They believe that she flies near God and will definitely convey to him the request of her “descendants.”

Buddhists treat butterflies with the deepest respect: after all, Buddha addressed the butterfly with his dying sermon. Moths are especially respected in Asia. They are considered the souls of the dead and guardians of the living. Here lives a legend about an old man who lost his wife, who cried for a long time and inconsolably at her grave, until a huge white moth flew in and took him to the kingdom of spirits, where he met the deceased.

The beauty of butterflies attracts many, and to it we often owe the feeling of admiration that overcomes us when we first meet them.

Literature

• Mikrula. Photos of a butterfly.
• M. P. Cornelio. School atlas - identification of butterflies. M., Visit. 1986.
• Biology. 7th grade. V. M. Konstantinov, V. G. Babenko, V. S. Kuchmenko, Ventana-Graf, 2009.
• P. Marikovsky "To the young entomologist." M.: Children's literature, 1978.

Moths with a thick, shaggy body and colorful wings are representatives of the bear family. There are 11 thousand species in the world. The greatest diversity was noted in South America– 5 thousand species, 150 species of bear butterflies live in Russia. Unusual name the family owes its appearance to the caterpillars. Their bodies are covered with thick black or brown hairs. The larvae were compared to bear cubs, and their parents were compared to mother bears. Moths have different sizes, the largest are more than 11 cm. temperate zone Lives the brightly colored lady bear butterfly. It can be found on wet edges, along rivers and streams. In all habitats, insect numbers are declining. They are included in the Red Book in Russia and Ukraine.

Description of the species

The lady bear (Callimorphadominula) belongs to the large family of Lepidoptera, the female bear. A medium-sized insect with a wingspan of 45-55 mm. The front wings are black with a blue or green tint. They are covered with chaotically scattered yellow and white spots irregular shape. The pattern varies among different individuals. The hind wings are smaller than the front wings and are bright red, orange or yellow. Along the edge there are black spots and bands.

Lady Bear Butterfly

Information. Synonyms for the name are: bear-girl and bear-hostess.

The head is black, the eyes are bulging, occupying most of it. The antennae are black, thread-like. Distinctive feature type - the presence of an oral apparatus. Many butterflies of the family do not feed, but the lady bear has a developed proboscis, which allows it to drink the nectar of flowers. In a free state, the organ is coiled in the shape of a spiral.

The body of the imago is thickened, densely covered with hairs. The chest is black, on the back there are two yellow stripes. The abdomen is red with a wide longitudinal stripe of black color. Walking legs are short.

Distribution area

The species is distributed in the Palearctic zone. In Europe it lives over a large area, the northern border is Sweden. Found in Asia, the Middle East - Turkey, Iran. In Russia it lives in the central, southwestern, and northwestern regions. Butterfly in large quantities lives in the Caucasus. The species is observed in the south of the Ural Mountains.

Lifestyle

Favorite habitats of Callimorphadominula are mixed or sparse deciduous forests. They often settle in bushes, along road ditches, and on the banks of streams. Butterflies become active after dark. During the day they hide in damp, shady places. But there are exceptions to the rules; sometimes adults can be seen during the day, when moths fly over flowers, collecting nectar from umbrella plants.

The moths fly in June-July. The species is sedentary; males and females do not spend much time looking for a partner.

After mating, eggs are laid on the main food plants of the caterpillars:

• stinging nettle;
• jasmine;
• buttercup;
• geranium.

• C. d. philippsi – Azerbaijan, northern Iran;
• C. d. rossica – Caucasus. Transcaucasia;
• C. D. persona – Italy.

These are just a few subspecies. Also interesting is the yellow form of the female bear f. flava.

Defense mechanism

The species has a weak flight, so catching a moth is not difficult. At the same time, they do not have many natural enemies. This is due to the presence of poison in the body of insects. The hemolymph of the imago is bitter; not many birds and reptiles like it. The protective mechanism is present not only in adult representatives of the species, but also in larvae. Long and thick hairs are a decoration, and a kind of shield from predators. Even in humans, they can cause an allergic reaction if you frighten the caterpillar by picking it up.

Information. The bright colors of the wings warn animals about the danger of the lady bear to their health.

Reproduction

Lepidoptera are insects with complete transformation. The lady bear gives birth to one generation per year. Caterpillars appear 6-8 days after laying. At the first instar they are light yellow, with a large round head and many hairs on the body. The offspring are polyphagous; in addition to the plants listed above, the caterpillars prefer to feed on raspberries, blackberries, willows, nettles, honeysuckle, and forget-me-nots.

The adult larva is black and blue with bright yellow longitudinal stripes on the back and sides. The burning hairs on the caterpillar's body are collected in bunches. The yellow stripes are interrupted by black and white warts. Caterpillars enter winter diapause. They wrap themselves in a light, loose cocoon and hide among the foliage and plant debris. Pupation occurs in May of the following year. The pupa is dark brown.

How to save butterflies?

Variegated butterflies Callimorphadominula became one of the many victims economic activity person. Their number is declining everywhere, in some regions they remained in single copies, and were included in the Red Books of regions as rare view. Protective measures to preserve the number of insects are being taken in 20 regions of the Russian Federation. The lady bear butterfly is also included in the appendix to the Red Book of Russia.

There are several reasons for the decline in butterfly numbers:

• Burning the grass into forest-steppe zone a habitat.
• Reducing the area of ​​biotypes suitable for life and reproduction - wet meadows with forbs, forest edges.
• Removing fallen leaves in which the insect overwinters.
• Isolation of local populations, making it difficult for the species to spread to new territories.
• Grazing of livestock, uncontrolled haymaking, direct destruction of butterflies.

Among the protective measures taken to preserve the species are regulation of recreational load, control of grazing and haymaking in forest clearings. In the habitats of the female bear, regulated use of insecticides is introduced. Great importance has the identification of new habitats of butterflies and taking them under protection.

10.01.2014 16:21

This photo aroused healthy interest on the biological Internet: excuse me, what is this? What kind of scary trick is this? But no. Not the first thing that comes to mind. This is a coremata, (Greek - coremata), or feather duster, literally, a dust whisk - an odorous gland thrown out, found in the males of some species of butterflies. Bear butterflies especially often boast of such a thing.

Since butterflies do not live communally, side by side, finding a suitable partner of their own species is sometimes not so easy. So they send signal “missiles” of pheromones into the air, which are produced by these very odorous glands inside males and females. To release pheromones outward, the glands are thrown outward. In males they can reach impressive sizes.

From the description of the sex pheromones of two bear butterflies*, Creatonotos transiens and Creatonotos gangis: “The coremata is a large, forcefully ejected organ, consisting of a pair of tubes, reaching 37 mm in length, each covered with approximately 3000 sensitive hairs (scales).”

The coremata can be longer than the butterfly itself and different shapes- from a small pompom to a long tube. The hairs help distribute pheromones around to attract females, and males, among other things, actively flap their wings to disperse the scent as widely as possible. It is also interesting that males often hit females on the head with these very hairy processes. Hm.

The organ is inflated by the flow of blood or air: in the illustration, air is blown into the body cavity of a dead butterfly using a pipette. A living male enlarges the core by pumping air into the abdomen.

After successful docking with a female who responded to the pheromone call, the coremata decreases in size and the penis increases. But that's not all. Now comes the main point: the male needs to hold the female long enough for fertilization to take place. In general, procreation is not an easy job.

For an entomologist, playing doctor is just beginning here. The study of butterfly genitals is so important that many devices have been invented for this entertainment alone. And all the most intimate and important things for precise definition kind of hidden, naturally, inside. And the reason for this... reduction in size. Yes, those same ones. It can be quite difficult to straighten the males' genitals enough to examine important details.

But even here there were big-headed Australians who came up with a kind of pump to enlarge the butterfly’s organs. “Using a stream of pressurized alcohol, the phalloblaster enlarges the genitals to recreate the shape and volume of a living butterfly's organs. The alcohol dries and tans the tissue, and when the process is completed, the genitals retain their created shape and remain inflated, like miniature ones. Balloons. This makes it easier to work with the genitals.”

In general, the scientific name of the phalloblaster is vesica everter, literally, “vesical everter.” Although, who needs some kind of twister when there is a falloblaster?

And a little more about penises. It is known that females of some species of butterflies evaluate males by the amount of pheromones emitted by the latter, by body size and even (oops!) by the size of the coremata. Many of the males that have these "ticklers" were former caterpillars that taste terrible, thanks to the alkaloids they obtained from plant leaves as they fed. These alkaloids are retained in the body of the adult butterfly.

The amount of alkaloids received by the caterpillar during the feeding phase directly affects the size of the adult male's coremata and the amount of pheromones produced, so more toxic males have a higher sexual rating than, for example, an average, less poisonous fellow. Some of the toxins are transferred to the female during fertilization, with sperm, and also to the eggs that she later lays to protect her and her offspring from predators. Of course, females prefer males with a large core.

For those who want to learn more about the intricacies of the caterpillar diet, male attractiveness, and female receptivity of some butterfly species, read For Love of Insects by Thomas Eisner, a pioneer in chemical ecology. The book can be purchased here: http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674018273. Another of his books " Secret weapon"(Secret Weapons), which talks about how

Butterflies and bears

As a rule, these are medium-sized butterflies, sometimes large. Usually with a bright pattern of spots and stripes. Why was this gentle creature called that? The fact is that bear caterpillars are covered with thick dark hairs, like wool. There are more than 6,000 species in this family, found in all parts of the world.

The big bear's wingspan reaches 8 centimeters. They are brown, with a yellow pattern along the front edge, the hind wings are yellow, with a black pattern, and the abdomen is red. This butterfly is now rare, but was once very common in Europe. Caterpillars overwinter twice before pupating.

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Dippers: mint and rustic

They feed mainly on the leaves of honeysuckle and bird cherry, as well as other low-growing plants.

The bear Kaya has a span of more than 6 centimeters. Her forewings are brown with a yellow-white pattern. The abdomen and hind wings are usually brick red with shiny black spots. The caterpillar is hairy and dark brown, and is not particularly picky about food. This butterfly is very widespread in Europe.

Trans-Caspian gloomy bear - this amazing insect is also called the cave butterfly. Butterfly in the cave! This in itself is unusual. No, of course, some butterflies living in mountainous areas often hide under the arches of caves from the scorching summer heat. But the bear is gloomy, this a special case, she lives in a cave. Butterflies hang on the walls, as well as on staloctites and stalagmites. At night they leave their shelters and sometimes fly to the light from the fire of tourists who have explored the caves. But the most mysterious thing is that the hairy caterpillars of this butterfly were discovered very far from the caves, and lived on wormwood.

What are the largest butterflies? The largest day butterfly is the female Queen Alexandra birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae), living in the southeast of Papua (island New Guinea). The span of its wide wings reaches 26 centimeters. Even larger specimens are found among

What are the smallest butterflies? The smallest are considered to be two tiny moths with a wingspan of about 2 millimeters - acetosea (Johanssonia acetosea) and rediculosa (Stigmella ridiculosa), living respectively in Great Britain and the Canary Islands.

How long can a butterfly's proboscis reach? Botanists who discovered the orchid Angraecum sesquipedale on the island of Madagascar with an amazing depth of corolla (25–30 centimeters) were perplexed: who pollinates such a plant? Charles Darwin suggested that this is what the hawk moth does with