Скачать или смотреть EOL Thestor rileyi Helderberg

Thestor rileyi (Riley's Skolly/ Riley se Skollie): watch some of this extremely rare insect's behaviours in the Helderberg, Western Cape, South Africa. Males perch mainly on rocks for territorial positioning, trembling their wings to reach females through frequency and/ or scattering pheromones. They compete for supreme positions where females will probably gather them. This looks like a "dance." They "jump," extend their wings, hide behind restios, lie horizontally on a stem, all perhaps in defence against possible predators and cameramen.
These butterflies have NO proboscides, meaning they cannot feed as adults. Ants feed them their (the ants') brood while they reside in their nests as larvae (not shown). Here and there I've used slow motion to try to show behaviours more discernibly.

Further key words: ethology, animal behaviour, insect behaviour, butterfly behaviour.

EOL code [taxonomy:binomial=Thestor rileyi]