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Long Tailed Blues
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Here is another pair of Lycaenid butterflies mating. This time it is the Long Tailed Blue, Lampides boeticus (Linnaeus, 1767). As in my recent picture of mating Gram Blues, you can see the male stimulating the abdomen of the female with his hind legs.
This has to be just about the most successful butterfly species ever. It migrates strongly and feeds as a caterpillar on a wide variety of leguminous (pea) plants. It occurs throughout Africa and the Indo-Australian region, as well as in more southerly European latitudes and in the Hawaiian islands in the central pacific (where it probably arrived by ship!!)
It has even been reported in the United Kingdom as a rare summer migrant, though as yet it seems not to be able to over-winter here. Perhaps with global warming, the Long Tailed Blue may even become a UK resident.
This picture was taken many years ago in Sulawesi and is scanned from a slide. Hence it has a little spotting on the leaves etc, though I have tried to take most of the dust off the butterflies themselves. |
jrobertop, Argus has marked this note useful
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Hi Alan,
Great capture of this exuberant butterflies!
Excellent contrast and colors.
It is the juggling of the procreation!
Congratulations for the beautiful work!
Thanks for sharing.
Friendly,
José Roberto
- Argus
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2606 W: 133 N: 7480]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-g-g.gif)
(23317) - [2007-09-09 10:05]
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Hello Alan,
This is a great shot of a pair Long-tailed Blues. Apart from a bit of noise this has a high technical standard with excellent sharpness and lighting. This one ought to have had more attention!
TFS and best regards,
Ivan
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 392 W: 0 N: 174]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-n-g.gif)
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