Morpho butterfly

Description:

The Helenor Morpho (Morpho helenor) is a Neotropical butterfly found in Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Mexico, Surinam, French Guiana, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Honduras, Guatemala, Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina and in Trinidad and Tobago. It is a species group which may be, or may not be several species. Many subspecies have been described. The brilliant blue color in the butterfly's wings is caused by the diffraction of the light from millions of tiny scales on its wings. It uses this to frighten away predators, by flashing its wings rapidly. The wingspan of the Blue Morpho butterfly ranges from 7.5–20 cm (3.0–7.9 in). The entire Blue Morpho butterfly lifecycle, from egg to adult is only 115 days. Morpho butterflies drinks the juices from rotting fruits for food. Its favourites in captivity are mango, kiwi, and lychee. It could be a Morpho peleides, a subspecies of Morpho helenor.

Habitat:

Morpho butterflies live in the rainforests of South America, and can be found in Mexico and Central America.

Notes:

Spotted in a tropical butterfly garden in S.E. France, on the French/Spanish border. Many of the butterflies in this butterfly garden had tattered wings. I wondered if there was too much vegetation in a confined space, either that, or they were old. They were in a large plastic growing tube with many plants.