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Tropical Butterflies Morpho, Morphinae, Are So Awesome, Attractive & Bright!
Tropical Butterflies Morpho, Morphinae, are Unique Flying Creatures in Jungles of Southern and Central America.
The Morphinae are a subfamily of Nymphalidae butterflies that includes the morphos, the owl butterflies (Caligo), and related lineages.
The morpho butterflies comprise many species of Neotropical butterfly under the genus Morpho. This genus includes more than 29 accepted species and 147 accepted subspecies, found mostly in South America, Mexico, and Central America. Morpho wingspans range from 7.5 cm (3.0 in) for M. rhodopteron to 20 cm (7.9 in) for M. hecuba, the imposing sunset morpho. The name morpho, meaning "changed" or "modified", is also an epithet. Blue morphos are severely threatened by the deforestation of tropical forests and habitat fragmentation. Humans provide a direct threat to this spectacular creature because their beauty attracts artists and collectors from all over the globe who wish to capture and display them. Aside from humans, birds like the jacamar and flycatcher are the adult butterfly’s natural predators.
Many morpho butterflies are colored in metallic, shimmering shades of blues and greens. These colors are not a result of pigmentation, but are an example of iridescence through structural coloration. Specifically, the microscopic scales covering the morpho's wings reflect incident light repeatedly at successive layers, leading to interference effects that depend on both wavelength and angle of incidence/observance.[8] Thus, the colors appear to vary with viewing angle, but they are surprisingly uniform, perhaps due to the tetrahedral (diamond-like) structural arrangement of the scales or diffraction from overlying cell layers. The wide-angle blue reflection property can be explained by exploring the nanostructures in the scales of the morpho butterfly wings.
Habitat:
Morpho butterflies inhabit the primary forests of the Amazon and Atlantic. They also adapted to breed in a wide variety of other forested habitats – for instance, the dry deciduous woodlands of Nicaragua and secondary forests. Morphos are found at altitudes between sea level and about 1,400 m (4,600 ft).
Biology:
Morphos are diurnal, as males spend the mornings patrolling along the courses of forest streams and rivers. They are territorial and chase any rivals. Morphos typically live alone, excluding in the mating season.
The genus Morpho is palatable, but some species (such as M. amathonte) are very strong fliers;