Great Purple Hairstreak Butterfly with Bees Stuck to his Wings
Aug 26, 2022 3:30:24 GMT
hmca, jackscrap, and 5 more like this
Post by BuckSkin on Aug 26, 2022 3:30:24 GMT
Note to All: I had at first misidentified this butterfly.
kdcintx found and provided the correct identification.
I have updated my post and links to reflect that new information.
Many thanks to kdcintx.
Tuesday_23-August-2022
Great Purple Hairstreak Butterfly (Atlides halesus) with Hitchhikers hanging on
This may be the rarest sight I have seen yet.
This tiny black butterfly, smaller than a Dime, flew onto the Goldenrod that I was standing beside.
It wasn't until I zeroed my lens on him that I noticed something very strange was going on.
At first, I thought he had three heads; but then, I could see that two bee-like creatures were somehow stuck to the ends of his wings.
The bees were a very vibrant irredescent blue, all over, eyes and everything; I suspect this is on account of the blue "butterfly dust" from his wings.
To top that, they were both still very much alive, writhing and thrashing around.
The butterfly seemed to just ignore them and had no trouble flying around with this excess baggage.
My only guess as to how they came to be helplessly adhered to the butterfly's wings is that they were covered in some sort of sticky pollen when the butterfly got inadvertently knocked into them by another much bigger butterfly.
I thought I might capture him and separate him from his burden; but, he was not having any of that and quickly flew off.
I was hoping the two trapped bees would show up better in the photos; but, this butterfly is tiny and I had to crop heavily.
From what I read, these thrive on Mistletoe and love to eat Goldenrod.
Ever since we have lived here, we have been well blessed with an overabundance of Mistletoe; yet, even with all the Mistletoe, and plenty of Goldenrod, this is the first of these I have ever seen.
You can learn all about them at Butterfly Atlas, University of Florida, Butterflies at Home, Butterflies and Moths, Butterfly Identification, Butterfly Fun Facts, Bug Guide, and Wikipedia.
In this last photo, you can definitely see one of the bees stingers.
Please let me know what you think.
kdcintx found and provided the correct identification.
I have updated my post and links to reflect that new information.
Many thanks to kdcintx.
Tuesday_23-August-2022
Great Purple Hairstreak Butterfly (Atlides halesus) with Hitchhikers hanging on
This may be the rarest sight I have seen yet.
This tiny black butterfly, smaller than a Dime, flew onto the Goldenrod that I was standing beside.
It wasn't until I zeroed my lens on him that I noticed something very strange was going on.
At first, I thought he had three heads; but then, I could see that two bee-like creatures were somehow stuck to the ends of his wings.
The bees were a very vibrant irredescent blue, all over, eyes and everything; I suspect this is on account of the blue "butterfly dust" from his wings.
To top that, they were both still very much alive, writhing and thrashing around.
The butterfly seemed to just ignore them and had no trouble flying around with this excess baggage.
My only guess as to how they came to be helplessly adhered to the butterfly's wings is that they were covered in some sort of sticky pollen when the butterfly got inadvertently knocked into them by another much bigger butterfly.
I thought I might capture him and separate him from his burden; but, he was not having any of that and quickly flew off.
I was hoping the two trapped bees would show up better in the photos; but, this butterfly is tiny and I had to crop heavily.
From what I read, these thrive on Mistletoe and love to eat Goldenrod.
Ever since we have lived here, we have been well blessed with an overabundance of Mistletoe; yet, even with all the Mistletoe, and plenty of Goldenrod, this is the first of these I have ever seen.
You can learn all about them at Butterfly Atlas, University of Florida, Butterflies at Home, Butterflies and Moths, Butterfly Identification, Butterfly Fun Facts, Bug Guide, and Wikipedia.
In this last photo, you can definitely see one of the bees stingers.
Please let me know what you think.
