Scientific name for social butterfly

Anne Kilmer viceroy at gate.net
Thu Jan 13 14:46:21 EST 2000



Louis Deaett wrote:
> 
> The other day I heard someone called a "social butterfly" for the first
> time, and my immediate thought was "lepidopterus socialis" -- but that
> can't be right, can it?  I mean, lepidoptera is an order, not a genus.
> Can anyone help me out here?
> 
> TIA,
> Louis
> 
> P.S. There aren't _really_ any social butterflies, are there?

The Formal social butterfly is a black and white swallowtail, Papilio
socialis.

One who can appear anywhere and seems at home in any environment is
Urbanus proteus, the long-tailed skipper. 

there are plenty of social caterpillars, and of course the adults of
many species go drinking together, or hobnob on a crusty nugget of
elephant dung. They do not appear to value each other's company.

Zebra longwings (Heliconius charitonius) do seem to enjoy each other,
when they're no squabbling. 

Anne Kilmer
P.S. nah, it's a figure of speech.


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