Butterflies 2

Juvenal's Duskywing [Erynnis juvenalis]. Schuylkill County, Pa. 4-24-23

Wild Indigo Duskywing [Erynnis baptisiae] Showing the amazing proboscis all curled up [above and below]. Dauphin County, Pa. 9-15-22

Wild Indigo Duskywing [Erynnis baptisiae] "Working the Goldenrod". Dauphin County, Pa. 9-15-22

A Spicebush Swallowtail [Papilio troilus] Butterfly in the act of pollinating Platanthera ciliars. You can see, attached to the eye pollinarium, which it has unknowingly removed from the flower. The pollinarium, the male part of the flower, contains the pollinia which will hopefully brush up against and come into contact with the stigma [the female part of the flower] of the next flower it visits.

In this series of pictures we see a Spicebush Swallowtail [Papilio troilus] Butterfly in the act of pollinating Platanthera ciliars. You can see, attached to the eye pollinarium, which it has unknowingly removed from the flower. The pollinarium, the male part of the flower, contains the pollinia which will hopefully brush up against and come into contact with the stigma [the female part of the flower] of the next flower it visits.

This set of pictures shows Spicebush Swallowtails [Papilio troilus] pollinating Orange Fringed Orchids [Platanthera ciliaris]. You can see pollinarium [the male part of the flower] attached to the butterflies eyes in some of the pictures. When the butterflies leave the flower they pull the pollinarium [which is full of pollen] from the flower out of the anther sack, which is now stuck to it's eye. Then moving to a second flower brushes the pollen [on the tip of the pollinarium] onto the stigma [the female par] of the flower. In this way pollination has been achieved.

These pictures show the pollination of Orange Fringed Orchid [Platanthera ciliaris] by a Spicebush Swallowtail [Papilio troilus]. As the Butterfly sticks its proboscis deep into the flowers spur, its eye comes into contact with the anther sack, and the viscidium, which is sticky [picture 1]. When it leaves the flower it pulls the pollinarium [the male part] from the flower out of the anther sack, which is now stuck to it's eye [picture 2]. When the Butterfly enters a second flowers the end of the pollinarium, which is made up of tiny grains of pollen, brushes up against the stigma, the female part of the flower, and deposits the pollen [picture 3, grains of pollen on the stigma]. In this way pollination has been achieved, the truly amazing world of orchid pollination.

My first time encountering this butterfly [above and below], it mimics the Monarch Butterfly-it does so because Monarch's are poisonous to predators like birds, in part because of it's diet of Milkweed as a caterpillar. Viceroy Butterfly [Basilarchia archippus]. Northeast, Pa. 7-27-22.

Spicebush Swallowtail [Papilio troilus] on Butterfly Weed [Asclepias tuberosa]. Dauphin County, Pa. 7-21-22

Great Spangled Fritillar [Speyeria cybele] on Butterfly Weed [Asclepias tuberosa]. Dauphin County, Pa. 6-30-22

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail [Papilio glaucus] covered in pollen from a Day Lily. Dauphin County, Pa. 7-16-22

Spice Bush Swallowtail Butterfly [Papilio troilus] on Orange Fringed Orchid [Platanthera ciliars, [yellow form]]. Southeast, Pa. 7-31-22. You can just see Pollinarium struck to the butterflies left eye.