Sleeping Butterflies

[Anne Kilmer]

The zebra longwing, Heliconius charitonius, hangs in festoons from the
chosen branch or vine, clinging to each other. I have been fortunate to
have such chains form next to my bedroom window. They do a fair amount
of shifting around, and, of coure, if someone in the middle of a line
decides to move, everybody has to let go. 
There are occasional disagreements, when someone has hung himself from a
twig someone else finds atractive, but, in general, it's a mellow
process. 
Anne Kilmer
South Florida

evoluhol at magnum.wpe.com wrote:
> 
> Sleeping butterflies,
> 
> As part of an ongoing study I am accumulating information on the overnight
> habits of adult North American butterflies.  I would be glad to receive
> any bits of information on your observations of specific species and their
> wild sleep habits -- those you have watched settle in, or those you have
> discovered in the dark.  On warm nights, be it wind or animal that
> disturbs them, adult butterflies may be disturbed enough to fly whereby
> they often fly to a light and stay for the night, light on or off -- but
> this request is for those observed or come upon out in meadow and
> woodland.
> 
> Thanks,
> Dave