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Project Noah Nature School
Argynnis pandora
Big butterfly, 5.5-7 cm wingspan. Females are half a centimeter bigger than males. The upper side of the wings is olive greenish with many black spots and lines. The underside is golden green and cadmium red with black spots. The anverse of the male forewings is olive green with pale yellow and orange at the tip and black veins. It presents two androconian veins in V2 and V3. The caterpillars, with sizes up to 35 mm, are beige, hairy with a black stripe sprinkled with red in the upper part It flies from the end of May the late September. The female lays around 1400-2000 eggs in a feeding plant, usually violets, or in the neighborhood for fifteen days. Before winter the larvae hatch and go into hibernation until spring.
Clearing at an open oak forest (Q. pyrenaica). Reserva de la Biosfera Real Sitio de San Ildefonso-El Espinar
Camera Model: NIKON D300. Exposure Time: 1/500 sec.; f/11; ISO Speed Rating: 800. Exposure Bias: 0 EV. Focal Length: 300.0 mm. No flash fired
Spotted on Jun 11, 2017
Submitted on Oct 4, 2017
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