A catterpillar and butterfly

JoanYoung · Post by **JoanYoung** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 4:08 pm

Junonia hierta - Yellow Pansy
Isn't this just the cutest little fellow?

He then turns into this....

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 6:40 pm

Very nice, up close and personal on the caterpillar Joan, though I would hate to have that thing get in amongst my clothing. Like the butterfly too, nice warm colors.

JoanYoung · Post by **JoanYoung** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:07 pm

Thanks for the nice comment Ken. I love the caterpillar...it is about the cutest I have seen here. Those you posted a while back were just as interesting.

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 2:44 am

Wow pic1 is sure up close and personal....and he's obviously someone who don't wanna to look easy pickings for some hungry bird.

Pic2 looks almost like a oil painting - and are those wing spots really different colours or is it the lighting?

Nice post Joan.

Bruce

JoanYoung · Post by **JoanYoung** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 3:00 am

Thanks for the lovely comment Bruce.
LOL!! Ken doesn't like the caterpillar either. But I find him extremly cute.

Our gardner was trimming some bushes and I saw him (the caterpillar that is) crawling on them, he is only about 1.5 inches long so I was on my hands and knees again trying to get a good shot of him.
Those are iridescent spots on the butterfly and you can see them only when the wings are at a certain angle to the sun. I have some pics where you cannot see them at all. At our local museum, they have a wonderful display of butterflies under a blue light in which brings out these colours.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 7:02 am

Joan, you did a really nice job on the photos here. That definitely is an "up close and personal" on the caterpillar face!

Bruce, if you search the web for info and images of this beast, you'll often find those spots described & illustrated as "brilliant blue", very different from the appearance shown here where the spots are purple and gray.

These colors are formed by optical interference due mostly to very fine (wavelength-size) regular grid structures on the surface of the scales. They can be exquisitely sensitive to lighting angle.

See this earlier post for some discussion and illustration of pigment versus interference colors.

--Rik

JoanYoung · Post by **JoanYoung** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 7:16 am

Rik, thank you for your kind remarks and the very interesting link to your posting on the colours in butterflies. Info like this is always welcome to me.

I actually have a cute one of him in my little bonsai tree which makes him look HUGE, but it is not macro of course.

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 7:12 am

WOW.......very beautiful pictures Joan. The caterpiller is incredible.

JoanYoung · Post by **JoanYoung** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 4:12 pm

Thank you for your kind words Doug