Friday, September 22, 2006

Snout butterfly



It's all anyone ever mentions.

Poor Cyrano of butterflies, with his enormous... panache.



But that eye!

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A very agreeable butterfly:
Easy ID -- the only species with elongated labial palpi (the "snout"). Plus, the two front legs on the male are tiny, while the female's are normal.
Easy to predict mass migration -- long drought + lots of rain = lots of snout butterflies, especially in the southwest.

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Side Notes:

Libytheana bachmanii.

Mass migrations. We drove through one of these in south Texas in 1996.

Photos with wings open.

There is actually a Cyrano Darner.

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More critters at the Friday Ark.
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14 comments:

  1. Ericka10:09 AM

    ooh, cool! i don't think we have those around here, at least i've never seen one. very neat.

    if ever i get my film developed (yes, i AM a throwback), i'll share my picts of the little grey tree frog that was too young or stupid to stay outta my way. i love playing with their little suction cup toes!

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  2. Karen Schmautz11:19 AM

    Looks like an anteater butterfly to me. I have seen anything like that before. Beautiful!

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  3. JAC11:24 AM

    Ah, Cyrano Darner. Here's a photo of its schnoz: http://tinyurl.com/g4ha8

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  4. Rainypete6:49 PM

    Way too cool. All we got in our parts was a massive Monarch migration.

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  5. Belle7:50 PM

    very cool!

    Love your blog content.

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  6. Lené Gary9:53 PM

    Great looking snout! :)

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  7. gawilli10:16 PM

    The picture of the open wings looks familiar. Very interesting creature.

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  8. R.Powers10:39 PM

    That is pretty neat. I haven't come across one of these yet.

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  9. Rachel12:14 AM

    I don't recall seeing one like that before!

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  10. Anonymous9:08 AM

    Fantastic butterfly! I don't think I've ever seen one--it's not likely I'll see one in my region, but apparently possible (Butterflies of Canada: American Snout).

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  11. Rurality7:31 PM

    Thanks y'all! I think they are pretty cool. I think of Texas every time I see one.

    Nannothemis, that is one strange looking darner. Hadn't seen that angle in a pic before. Thanks for sharing!

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  12. lisa10:15 PM

    Thanks for the post-I just love cool bugs!

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  13. Anonymous2:48 PM

    i live in san antonio, and there are millions of these this year (2006). Not so pretty when you have to scrape them off your car.

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  14. Anonymous3:28 PM

    Why do they call it a snout butterfly?

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