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media type="custom" key="21195348" __ Blue Morpho Butterfly __


 * __ Scientific Classification __**

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Lepidoptera

Family: Nymphalidae

Subfamily: Morphinae

Tribe: Morphini

Genus: Morpho

Scientific Name: Morpho Didius/Morpho Peleides

Breeding: The Female and Male Butterflies will mate for an average of over an hour. Then, the female will lay her eggs on plants that are close-by to caterpillar food. The Habitat in the zoo is called the ‘Butterfly Room’. It has many plants in it. The temperature is very, very warm. There are small ‘rivers’ of water on the ground and lots of greenery. As they live in tropical rainforests, their zoo habitat is humid. The Blue Morpho Butterfly’s natural habitat is in beautiful Tropical Rain-Forests of Latin America, from Mexico to Columbia. Adult butterflies mostly spend their time on the rain-forest floor within the lower shrubs, trees and plants. Although, when they are looking for mates they fly throughout all layers of the forest.
 * Male Blue Morpho Butterfly: **The Male Blue Morpho Butterfly’s wings (as the name implies) are a light blue, edged with black. It is amongst the largest butterflies in the world. The male’s wings are broader and brighter than the females. The Blue Morpho Butterflies, like other butterflies, also have two antennas, two fore wings and two hind wings, six legs and three body parts- the head, thorax and abdomen.
 * Female Blue Morpho Butterfly: **The Female Blue Morpho Butterfly’s wings (as the name implies) are a light blue, edged with black. It is amongst the largest butterflies in the world. The female’s wings are smaller and duller than the males. The females tend to be more brown than blue. Blue morphos, like other butterflies, also have two antennas, two fore wings and two hind wings, six legs and three body parts- the head, thorax and abdomen.
 * Young Blue Morpho Butterfly: **A Young Blue Morpho Butterfly is actually a Caterpillar. They hatch from pale green eggs that look like dew-drops. The caterpillars have reddish-brown bodies with bright lime-green or yellow blotches/spots on its back.
 * Size of the Blue Morpho Butterfly: **Blue Morpho Butterflies are averaged to be around 6 inches longs. They are small insects with a wingspan that can vary from 3-8 inches.
 * Habitat (in zoo and natural): **
 * Feeding: **The Blue Morpho Butterfly’s diet changes throughout its stages in the life cycle. As a caterpillar it likes to chew on various leaves, but prefers plants of the pea family. When it becomes a butterfly it is no longer able to chew, so it has to drink its food. Instead, they use a lengthy, protruding mouthpart called a proboscis as a drinking straw to sip the juice of rotting fruit, the fluids of decomposing animals, tree sap, fungi and wet mud.
 * Interesting Facts: **
 * 1) Butterfly wings are transparent
 * 2) Butterflies taste with their feet
 * 3) Butterflies live on an all-liquid diet
 * 4) A butterfly must assemble its proboscis as soon as it emerges from the chrysalis
 * 5) Butterflies drink from mud puddles
 * 6) Butterflies can’t fly if they’re cold
 * 7) A newly emerged butterfly can’t fly
 * 8) Butterflies live just 2-4 weeks, usually
 * 9) Butterflies are nearsighted, but they can see and discriminate a lot of colours
 * 10) Butterflies employ all kinds of tricks to keep from being eaten

-The adults mate for approximately over an hour -The female lays her eggs on a plant that is near-by or on intended caterpillar food -The egg then hatches into a caterpillar. The caterpillar stage is important, as it is also known as the growing or feeding stage -The caterpillar lives as the larva/caterpillar for an amount of time before making a cocoon for itself -The caterpillar forms into a butterfly whilst in the cocoon. It does this by breaking down the caterpillar tissues and the insect/butterfly structures are formed. -The butterfly comes out of the cocoon after an amount of time -It is now a butterfly, ready to reproduce and fly
 * Life Cycle: **

This here is a simple, yet informative picture of the butterfly's life cycle:

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