In the thickets of weed grass
Look how beautiful
Butterflies were born!
Matsuo Basho
Butterflies are one of nature’s most magnificent creations. Light, beautiful, exciting and impeccable in its perfection of creation. They are like messengers of spring, announcing the coming bright, warm, sunny days.
The great poets of antiquity sang butterflies, admired their beauty and perfection, depicting great masters of brush on their canvases, whole nations worshiped them, considering them symbols of a pure soul.
In the world there are more than 157 thousand species of these insects, which have spread throughout almost all corners of the globe, except perhaps Antarctica.
There are four stages of butterfly development - from the egg to the imago. Often it is the image of the butterfly, or rather, its transformation, that is used for the artistic and aesthetic description of the improvement of the human beauty of the body and mind.
Butterflies are children's favorite insects. From childhood, each of us was interested in the question: what do butterflies eat? We could watch these creatures for hours, admiring not only their bright color, but also the way they flutter over the flower or wash themselves with dew drops. Thanks to the popular cartoons telling about the life of insects, we knew exactly what butterflies eat - of course, floral nectar!
We grew up, new interests appeared, but, as before, butterflies continued to attract with their impeccability. With age, the range of our knowledge expands, which means the same question: “What do butterflies eat?” we can answer no longer from the position of the child, but based on various encyclopedic knowledge. So, in addition to nectar, the diet of these beauties includes pollen, tree sap, honey and even overripe fruits - each type of butterfly has its own taste preferences.
Consider what butterflies eat, using the example of the most common representatives of the species of Lepidoptera on the territory of Russia.
Urticaria - belongs to the Nymphalidae family, is found everywhere, from Europe to Asia. Its specimens came across even high in the Himalayas and the Alps. This is one of the largest representatives of day butterflies, inhabitants of central Russia - its wingspan reaches 25 mm. She lays her eggs on the nettle leaves, from here she got her name: butterfly-urticaria. It is known for certain what this insect feeds on - caterpillars with pleasure eat leaf of nettle, hemp and hop.
Lemongrass (buckthorn) belongs to the family of whites. Thanks to its second name, we can determine what the lemongrass butterfly eats. This buckthorn is alder. Caterpillars of lemongrass consider buckthorn leaves a real treat, sometimes, however, it can also be the leaves of another representative of this plant family - joster. These are the only plants serving as a food source for brood of lemongrass.
If you want to feed the butterflies - prepare a weak honey solution or offer them slices of an overripe banana or apple. Then the insects will delight you with their fluttering, becoming regular guests.