Bolivian and Peruvian Morpho Aurora Natural History Illustrations

Summary: Morpho aurora natural history illustrations and Aurora morpho natural history images show Bolivia's and Peru's big-winged, shiny brush-footed butterflies.

Morpho aurora; A. Seitz's The Macrolepidopera of the World, Vol. 5 Plates (1924), plate 66: Not in copyright, via Biodiversity Heritage Library

Morpho aurora natural history illustrations address distribution ranges, life cycles and physical appearances in Aurora morpho images that appreciate from all aesthetic angles one of northern South America's attractive, brilliant brush-footed butterflies.

Aurora morpho brush-footed butterflies bear their common name because of daylight territorial patrols and daytime flight patterns along wooded water bodies in lowland Bolivia and Peru. They carry their scientific names as the species Morpho aurora and the first- and second-classified subspecies Morpho aurora aurora and Morpho aurora aureola ("golden dawn morpho"). John Obadiah Westwood's (Dec. 22, 1805-Jan. 2, 1893) aurora and Hans Fruhstorfer's (March 7, 1866-April 9, 1922) aureola descriptions, in 1851 and 1913 respectively, dominate taxonomies.

Aurora morpho brush-footed butterflies exist in Bolivia and Peru as the brown-underwinged, larger aurora nominate ("first-named") subspecies and in Peru as the gold-underwinged, smaller aureola subspecies.

Aurora morpho brush-footed butterflies, with 14- to 21-day lifespans, follow eggs, larvae and chrysalids (from the Greek χρυσός, khrusós, "gold") in completely metamorphosing, 115-day life cycles.

The last, mature, solitary stage goes for nutrient-rich fluids in decomposing animals, fermenting fruits, fungi, mud and tree sap and a mate between November and April. Dewdrop-like 200-plus eggs hatch into green- or yellow-patched, hairy-headed, red-brown caterpillars with eversible (turning inside-out, from the Latin ēversus, "cleared-out") thoracic glands with rancid butter-smelling secretions. The second, larval stage involves five molts of hungry, night-feeding, prickly, smelly, thrashing caterpillars into five instars whose daily diets include ingested toxins from poisonous plants.

Morpho aurora natural history illustrations and Aurora morpho natural history images jangle hard-skinned, jade- to white-green chrysalises by silk-spun buttons from leafy undersides or stem sides.

The bulbous, shiny-spotted chrysalis keeps away inquisitive intruders and natural enemies at sea-level through 8,530.18-foot (2,600-meter) altitudes through touch- and wind-activated repulsive smells and ultrasonic sounds.

The Nymphalidae (from the Greek νύμφη, númphē, "bride, nymph") brush-footed butterfly family member looks iridescent-winged because of microscopic scales that limit all light wavelengths except blue. Aureola subspecies' 3.54- to 3.94-inch (9- to 10-centimeter) and aurora subspecies' 3.54- to 4.33-inch (9 to 11-centimeter) wingspans mean bouncy, easy-to-catch, slow, wobbly flight patterns. Females and their lighter, narrow-banded, smaller mates net four smaller and four larger eyespots respectively on their fore- and hind-wings' brown, gray, marbled or orange undersides.

Morpho aurora natural history illustrations and Aurora morpho natural history images observe black or brown bodies, two ridged antennae, two footless forelegs and four footed hind-legs.

Aurora morpho brush-footed butterflies prioritize forest river and stream habitats in Amazonian Bolivia's and Peru's forest river and stream habitats even though they alternatively proliferate in dry deciduous woodlands and secondary forests.

Lacewings, ladybugs; ants, bees, flies, sawflies, wasps; mammals; ants, bees, birds, frogs, lizards, mantids, sawflies, spiders, wasps respectively qualify as egg-, caterpillar-, chrysalis- and butterfly-preying predators. Aurora morpho brush-footed butterflies remain most vulnerable during daylight patrols and daytime puddling because of four-footed, not six-footed, transportation modes; iridescent colors; and slow flight patterns. Antennae and stubby forelegs serve as smellers and tasters even as eyespots and iridescence skewer predator senses of head-body arrangements and suggest unpleasant tastes and textures.

Morpho aurora natural history illustrations and Aurora morpho natural history images track brush-footed butterflies whose iridescence triggers local ceremonial mask-making and world-marketed jewelry and wood inlays.

Morpho aurora; Museum Wiesbaden, Hesse state, west central Germany; Tuesday, March 17, 2009: Notafly, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Morpho aurora; A. Seitz's The Macrolepidopera of the World, Vol. 5 Plates (1924), plate 66: Not in copyright, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13667186;
Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLibrary), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/50573021913/

Morpho aurora; Museum Wiesbaden, Hesse state, west central Germany; Tuesday, March 17, 2009: Notafly, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Morphoaurora.JPG

For further information:

Ellenrieder, Natalia von; Rosser W. Garrison. "Lepidoptera (Butterflies, Skippers, and Moths)." In: Michael Hutchins, Arthur V. Evans, Rosser W. Garrison and Neil Schlager (eds.). Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Second edition. Volume 3, Insects: 383-389. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2003.

Fruhstorfer, H. (Hans). "6. Family: Morphidae Westw.: M. aurora." In: Dr. Adalbert Seitz, ed., The Macrolepidoptera of the World: A Systematic Account of Hitherto Known Macrolepidopera in Collaboration with Well Known Specialists. Division II: Fauna Exotica, Vol. 5: The American Rhopalocera, Part 2: 349. Stuttgart, Germany: Alfred Kernen, 1924.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40683050

Seitz, Adalbert, Dr, ed. The Macrolepidoptera of the World: A Systematic Account of Hitherto Known Macrolepidopera in Collaboration with Well Known Specialists. Division II: Fauna Exotica, Vol. 5 Plates. Stuttgart, Germany: Alfred Kernen, 1924.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/48585