New Zealand Moths and Butterflies (Macro-Lepidoptera)Hudson, G. V. (George Vernon)
Science
New Zealand Moths and Butterflies (Macro-Lepidoptera)
Hudson, G. V. (George Vernon)
Lepidoptera -- New Zealand
"The chrysalis state lasts but a short time, as is the case with all those
which are known to suspend themselves nakedly by the tail. At the end of
about the tenth day the dark colours of the future butterflies begin to
show through the delicate and transparent skin, and suddenly this skin
bursts open near the head, and the newborn butterfly gradually extricates
itself, and stretching forth its legs and clambering on to some surrounding
object, allows its moist, thickened, and contracted wings to hang
listlessly from the body."
The perfect insect appears in March and April, hibernated specimens being
met with in the spring. It is a most striking species on the wing, and one
which, when once seen, is not likely to be forgotten.
ANOSIA BOLINA, L.
(_Diadema nerina_, Butler, Butterflies of N. Z., p. 13. Female.--_Papilio
nerina_, Fabr., Syst. Ent., p. 509, n. 277 (1775); Donovan, Ins. of New
Holland, pl. 27, fig. 1 (1805). _Papilio iphigenia_, Pap. Exot., 1, pl.
lxvii., figs. D, E, (1775). Var. _Papilio proserpina_, Cramer, Pap.
Exot., 3, pl. ccxviii., figs. C, D, (1782). Male ? _Papilio auge_,
Cramer, Pap. Exot., 2, pl. cxc., figs. A, B (1779).)
(Plate XII., fig. 7 [M], 8 [F], 9 under side.)
This fine species appears to be rare in New Zealand, but I think it has now
occurred often enough to entitle it to a place amongst our native
butterflies. The following is a list of the captures so far as I am able to
ascertain them:--
From Mr. Eny's 'Catalogue of New Zealand Butterflies'[46] the first
specimen taken appears to have been a male, which was captured by Dr.
Sinclair, of Auckland, and sent to the British Museum before the year 1855.
The Rev. Richard Taylor also caught one male specimen in his garden at
Wanganui, and saw another, the only {105}two he observed in thirty-four
years. Dr. Baker saw one in his garden at Christchurch on lilac flowers,
also a male. Mr. R. W. Fereday[47] records the capture of the first female
specimen by a son of Mr. Thomas Tanner, near Napier, in January, 1876. On
the 18th of March, 1885, Mr. R. I. Kingsley[48] took a fine female specimen
in Nelson, and on the 25th of March, 1886, I saw another female specimen in
the same locality; I also understand that quite a number of specimens of
both sexes have been recently captured in the neighbourhood of
Auckland.[49]
From the foregoing records, I think that there are very good reasons for
regarding this as an indigenous species, as it is very improbable that such
a large number of specimens would have been accidentally introduced to the
various localities at so many different times.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account