.Paul_Gerritsen

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This is a Morpho butterfly. The top side of it's wings is stunningly blue. Morpho butterflies are forest dwellers, but will venture into sunny clearings to warm themselves. Males are territorial and will chase any rivals. The peoples along the Rio Negro in Brazil once exploited the territorial habits of the Blue Morpho (M. menelaus) by luring them into clearings with bright blue decoys. The collected butterfly wings were used as embellishment for ceremonial masks. Ps. you can lure them indeed by wearing blue clothing, I have tried this myself and my pullover was attracting Morphos. Morpho butterflies feed on the juices of fermenting fruit with which they may also be lured. The inebriated butterflies wobble in flight and are easy to catch. Morphos will also feed on the bodily fluids of dead animals and on fungi. Therefore, Morpho butterflies may be important in dispersing fungal spores. The entire life cycle of the Morpho butterfly, from egg to death, is approximately 137 days. The adults live for about a month. They have few predators as the adults are poisonous due to the feeding caterpillar sequestering poisonous compounds. The hairy brown caterpillars feed on a variety of leguminous plants. In some species the caterpillars are cannibalistic. If disturbed, some Morpho caterpillars will secrete a fluid smelling of rancid butter. The tufts of hair decorating the caterpillars have been recorded to irritate human skin.