Taking the Bait
Knee deep in mud, attacked by blood-sucking leeches and pestered by savage mosquitoes, while vainly pursuing butterflies that refuse to descend from the canopy high above – this is butterflying in the tropical rainforest.
Read moreKnee deep in mud, attacked by blood-sucking leeches and pestered by savage mosquitoes, while vainly pursuing butterflies that refuse to descend from the canopy high above – this is butterflying in the tropical rainforest.
Read moreThe Aurelian had hoped to write a short, witty piece about speciation in butterflies. He thought he understood the issues, but just to be sure, started reading and re-reading books and papers on the subject.
Big mistake.
Read moreHave you read Darwin’s “On The Origin of the Species?”
Read moreIt’s been a long, wet winter here in Western Australia. One of the wettest on record.
Read moreIt’s not a contest any species would want to win, but there seems to be one undisputed contender for the title of Australia’s rarest butterfly.
Read moreSooner or later, every lepidopterist gets asked the inevitable question by a friend. What’s the difference between a butterfly and a moth?
The Aurelian’s response is always the same. How long have you got?
Read moreWe know that some butterflies are more common that others. We usefully distinguish between the generalists – those insects that can be found pretty much anywhere, and the habitat specialists, whether that specialism is mountains, woodland, mangroves, rain forest or whatever. But what does it take for a butterfly to be accurately called “scarce”?
Read moreIt’s no surprise that logical natural frontiers like mountain ranges provide good butterfly locations. But what about illogical frontiers?
Read moreThe Aurelian was bumping around on the back seat of a minibus when the conversation turned to the topic of migration. Yes, many butterflies migrate, that much is in escapable, but why do they bother?
Read moreThere’s a spot just twenty minutes drive from the heart of Sofia in Bulgaria. It’s a wooded area where a small stream joins a larger river alongside the main road, near enough the city that there’s a bus stop. Nothing remarkable, that’s it in the photograph. You could drive past on your daily commute for years, and never feel a need to stop.
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