Parides erithalion

Parides erithalion(Parides erithalion)

Phylum —arthropoda
Class —insecta
Order — lepidoptera
Family —papilionidae

Genus –parides

Appearance

The caterpillars are brown with two horizontal light yellow spots in the middle of the body. The body is covered with soft small red-brown and light yellow outgrowths.

The upperside of the wings is black with a row of red postmedian spots. The underside of the wings is also black with a row of pink and whitish spots.

In males of some subspecies the uppersides of the forewings have a large olivaceous-green patch from the inner margin forward, with a creamy-white spot, while hindwings have a band of three red spots. Fringe in both sexes is dotted with white.The wingspan of butterflies is up to 10 cm.

Habitat

The butterfly is found in Central and South America.

Behavior

It demonstrates daily activity. Butterflies are poisonous, because the caterpillars accumulate poison from forage plants. Butterflies can often be seen on the edge of the forest, in sunny glades or in the crowns of trees.

Like other caterpillars of this family, the caterpillars of this butterfly have an osmetrium – a gland behind the head that extends in danger and looks like two long brightly colored "horns".

Diet

The caterpillars feed on the leaves of Aristolochia grandiflora.Butterflies feed on nectar.

Reproduction

For their reproduction you need a terrarium with a size of 50 x 50 x 70 cm. Females lay eggs on the leaves of the forage plant. The eggs are a brownish color. It is better to keep the caterpillars in containers with a mesh lid of 6-8 pieces. In the container, you need to place a forage plant.The temperature is 23-25 ^oC at the humidity of60-70%. The pupae are light green with large yellowish spots and small horns at the anterior end. The pupal stage lasts for 2-3 weeks.The butterfly lives 5-8 days.

In captivity

The mesh terrarium with a size of 50 × 50 × 70 mm is suitable for keeping butterflies. Room temperature is necessary. Daylight time is 12 hours. You can feed the butterflies with honey syrup diluted with boiled water in a ratio of 1: 10.