and emperors. In most cases the bright colouring is confined to the
upper surface of the wings, the under-side being mottled and often
inconspicuous. Most members of the group Vanessidi—the peacock
and tortoiseshells (Vanessa) and the red admiral (Pyrameis) for
|
| Fig. 65.—Vanessa io (Peacock) and its pupa.
|
example—hibernate in the imaginal state. This large family is
divided into several sub-families whose characters may be briefly
given, as they are considered to be distinct families by many entomologists.
The Danainae (or Euploeinae, fig. 66) have the anal nervures
of the forewing arising from a common stalk, the discoidal areolets in
both wings closed, and the front feet of the female thickened; their
|
| Fig. 66.—Euploea leucostictos (male). Malaya.
|
larvae are smooth with fleshy processes. The danaine butterflies
range over all the warmer parts of the world, becoming most numerous
in the eastern tropics, where flourish the handsome purple
Euploeae whose males often have “brands” on the wings; these
insects are conspicuously marked and are believed to be distasteful
to birds and lizards. So are the South American Ithomiinae,
|
| Fig. 68.—Nymphalis jason. W. Africa. Upper and under surface.
|
distinguished from the Danainae by the slender feet of the females;
the narrow winged, tawny Acraeinae, with simple anal nervures, thick
hairy palps and spiny larvae;
and the Heliconiinae whose palps
are compressed, scaly at the
sides and hairy in front. This
last named sub-family is confined
to the Neotropical Region,
while the Acraeinae are most
numerous in the Ethiopian. The
Nymphalinae include the British
vanessids (fig. 65), and a vast
assemblage of exotic genera
(figs. 68, 70), characterized by
|
|
After A. R. Grote, Natural
Science, vol. 12 (J. M. Dent
& Co.).
|
|
Fig. 67.—Neuration of
Wings in a Nymphaline
Butterfly.
|
| 2, |
Sub-costal.
|
| 3, |
Radial.
|
| 4, |
Median.
|
| 5, |
Cubital.
|
| 6, |
7, 8, Anal nervures.
|
|
|
|
|
Fig. 69.—Larva and Pupa of
Apatura ilia.
|
|
the “open” discoidal areolets (fig. 67) owing to the absence of the
transverse “disco-cellular” nervules. In the Morphinae—including
some magnificent South American insects with deep or azure
|
| Fig. 70.—Callithea sapphira. Brazil.
|
blue wings, and a few rather dull-coloured Oriental genera—the
areolets are closed in the forewings and often in the hindwings.
The larvae of the Morphinae (fig. 71) are smooth
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