The admiral butterfly has nothing to do with the sea. Neither she nor her ancestors have ever seen oceanic distances. Admiral Butterfly is an exceptionally land creature. But her outfit - black wings with a red border - is quite reminiscent of admiral stripes. But despite this formal appearance, the butterfly -
quite an ordinary creature on all continents of the globe. What does a butterfly admiral look like? This is a fairly large insect. The length of the wing reaches three and a half centimeters, in scope - up to six centimeters. The color of the wings varies from dark brown to black. In the middle of the front wings there is a red strip, over which white spots are located like stars. The edges of the second pair of wings are decorated with a red rim, which is decorated with black peas and a double blue spot near the body. What does the admiral butterfly look like from below? The upper pattern is repeated on the front wings. The bottom pair, as a rule, is brown, covered with a pattern of dashes and dots.
This daytime butterfly is migratory. Admiral's populations in the latitudes of our country are replenished by individuals who arrived from the south. Mostly fly from North Africa. It seems that the butterflies migrate in packs, but they fly one by one in the same direction. They get together extremely rarely. Butterfly Admiral - "the lone wanderer." Upon arrival, females lay one egg each on the leaves of plants used by future offspring for food. And what does the admiral butterfly look like at the caterpillar stage? From the eggs appear caterpillars of a white color with yellowish spikes, spots and dots throughout the body. She has no longitudinal strip. Caterpillars develop from May to August. They live in rolled up leaves of the same plants that they eat: nettles, thistles and hops. What does the admiral butterfly look like at the pupal stage? The whitish doll, which they build to transform into an adult, attaches to the stems and hangs freely.
The future butterfly is in it head down.
Adult butterflies feed on fragrant nectar of flowers, the juice of trees, berries and fruits. Their elongated proboscis, similar to a spiral, is placed in the center of the flower in order to obtain food, which is not available for many other insects. Most butterflies born in late summer travel south in the fall. There they lead the next generation and die. Admiral butterfly life span is small - about six months. In spring, young individuals fly to their parents ’birthplaces to continue the appearance of the butterfly. But some admirals are left to winter. They fly until late autumn, sometimes to frost. And in the cold season they climb deep under the bark of trees or into deep crevices where they will not reach the frost. In early spring, when the snow still lies in large snowdrifts,
warmed by the high hot sun, these butterflies get out of winter shelters and flutter in places protected from the wind.
The admiral butterfly population is subject to population changes. In some years, they appear in large numbers. But in general, the butterfly is quite rare and is listed in the Red Book.