Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Each egg contains a number of tiny funnel-shaped openings at one end, called micropyles; the purpose of these holes is to allow sperm to enter and fertilize the egg. Butterfly eggs vary greatly in size and shape between species, but are usually upright and finely sculptured. Some species lay eggs singly, others in batches.
The body of an adult butterfly or moth (the imago) has three distinct divisions, called tagmata, connected at constrictions; these tagmata are the head, thorax, and abdomen. Adult lepidopterans have four wings – a forewing and a hindwing on both the left and the right side of the thorax – and, like all insects, three pairs of legs.
The adults inject the eggs into a host, which they begin to consume after hatching. For example, the eggs of the endangered Papilio homerus are parasitized at a rate of 77%, mainly by Hymenoptera species. [23] Some species are even hyperparasitoid, with the host itself being another parasitoid insect. Habits intermediate between those of the ...
These are thought to protect the plant as the butterfly avoids laying eggs near eggs already on a host plant, to give her own eggs the best chance of survival. A later example is the mimicking of a mammalian hormone by an ant toxin which causes long-lasting hypersensitivity, Gilbertian mimicry at a molecular level.
Lepidoptera (/ ˌ l ɛ p ɪ ˈ d ɒ p t ər ə / LEP-ih-DOP-tər-ə) or lepidopterans is an order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths.About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organisms, [1] [2] making it the second largest insect order (behind Coleoptera) with 126 families [3] and 46 superfamilies ...
Male genitalia of Lepidoptera. The main component of the male reproductive system is the testicle, suspended in the body cavity by tracheae and the fat body.The more primitive apterygote insects have a single testis, and in some lepidopterans the two maturing testes are secondarily fused into one structure during the later stages of larval development, although the ducts leading from them ...
Often, E. aurinia will lay eggs at edges of such meadows because the vegetation structure and plant height fit the female butterfly preference for oviposition. [20] For such reasons, croplands are generally favored over meadows for oviposition because croplands tend to have concentrated numbers of large-sized host plants.
H. semele eggs are white at first, but turn pale yellow as they develop. The egg stage generally lasts between two and three weeks. [1] When the eggs hatch, the caterpillar grows slowly, feeding at night and typically hibernating during cold temperatures in a deep patch of grass. [1] The larvae are small and cream colored, and there are four ...