A few questions about butterflies. You will find out where there are most of them, why they are so colorful, who is more beautiful - a male or a female, and whether global warming affects the change in the butterfly population. Rich countries in terms of the diversity of butterflies can be called Brazil, Peru, Indonesia, China and in general all the tropical regions of the planet. Most of the more than 150 thousand species of butterflies known today, which are often striking in their size and color, live there.
One of the poorest countries is Greenland - only five species of diurnal butterflies live there, and on some small oceanic islands and in Antarctica they are not at all. In general, one of the famous people said that butterflies convey the image of the country like no one else. The southern countries are bright, colorful, cheerful, and there are such butterflies in them. In northern countries, butterflies are dull, washed out pastel colors.
Why are butterflies so beautiful?
It only seems to us that they are a manifestation of the "wastefulness" of nature. In fact, butterflies are mostly colored for quite mundane reasons. One of them is disguise, that is, butterflies thus “hide” in their natural environment. For example, a group of butterflies, the Parnassians, lives in the highlands of Europe. This is a large genus, which has about a hundred species; in particular, the almost legendary Apollo belongs to it. These are translucent butterflies, which seem to convey the crystal transparency of the air, the colors of glaciers, and the clear sky. They seem to be in harmony with the landscape in which they live. Another group is nigella. They are brown or black, with an ocher color - this is also an attribute of high mountains, rocks, where a dark color allows better accumulation of solar heat in cold climates. Another use of paints is confusion. As you know, birds have very good eyesight, moreover, they have color. So they see an insect and are already flying to eat it, the butterfly suddenly spreads its wings, and there, for example, big eyes appear. The bird is frightened for a moment, while the butterfly runs away.
In fact, the wings of butterflies are covered with thousands of tiny scales, which give them a bright color. These scales have a varied texture and, as a rule, are colored with various dyes - pigments, on which the pattern on the wings and their color depend. Sometimes the scales are colorless, but due to the shape of a prism, they refract light in such a way that they create a whimsical play of all the colors of the rainbow. Hence the variety and play of colors on the wings of butterflies.
Who is more beautiful - male or female?
Male. Females are usually larger, but males are prettier. This is due to the peculiarities of reproduction. The fact is that butterflies reproduce only once. And until the female has laid eggs, she should be as inconspicuous as possible, so as not to get someone "on the tooth". And males are more beautiful, however, for reproduction it has rather little value. Males find the female by smell, that is, pheromones are important, not color. This is a very delicate mechanism: there are species that find a female several kilometers away. But when the female is already fertilized, the smell changes, and she no longer attracts males.
Is global warming affecting the replacement of the butterfly population?
There are no global changes in the fauna caused by warming, but certain trends can be traced. For example, bindweed hawk moth can often be found: it is a tropical species that nevertheless migrates to the Arctic Circle. These butterflies arrive from the Mediterranean in the spring, lay their eggs, laying a new generation that develops here. In autumn, butterflies of a different - local generation come out, which in September can often be seen in gardens among flowers. But this local generation is no longer fruitful, it is dying here. There is a simple reason for this: over the past several thousand years, the climate in Europe has changed several times. Ice ages gave way to warming. These butterflies are genetically designed to fly to the north - obviously, there used to be such conditions here that they developed and migrated without hindrance. It's too cold for them now. But let's imagine that the temperature rises by several degrees, these butterflies will be able to inhabit the territories much to the north, and new thermophilic species will appear on our territory.