Lepidoptera Lexicography vs. Lepidoptera Lasciviousness

[Richard Worth]

Hi MB,
I recall reading somewhere about gulf frits doing the same thing. 
The phenomenon was coined "pupal mating" I believe.  Actually, that 
would seem a bit of a misnomer, but it is documented nonetheless.
Happy butterfly ?@#$%*-watching,
Rich

>Hi there....
>
>While you guys all argue about "correct/scientific/common names," I'm
>going to interrupt with a thread of my own for all the bored-silly and
>silent gals out there who are hungry for more titillating conversation:
>Butterfly ***SEX***  (Okay, you guys can listen in if you are so
>inclined...)
>
>Yesterday, I was certain that the public outdoor butterfly exhibit that I
>monitor had sunk to the lowest depths of depravity...until today.  Chalk
>it off to a combination of overpopulation in a confined, contrived
>environment coupled with an insufferable humidity index...aberrant
>butterfly behavior is running wild in the pastoral confines of my
>ethereal butterfly "garden!"
>
>For some time, I've noticed that the male Zebra Longwings (and THEY know
>who they ARE, "correctly" speaking), have been routinely patrolling the
>hanging chrysalides of their sibling species in search of "near-eclosing"
>females...an opportunistic strategy employed by them, to mate with newly
>emerged "virgins" even before they've had the chance to spread their
>wings and fly (!)  An especially "hot" female will often have two or
>three randy males gripping her chrysalis in anticipation of emerging
>nirvana...  Only one "gets lucky."  I come into work at 7:00 a.m. and
>find the persistent, besotted males hooked up to their "intended" in
>connubial bliss, though I've never seen the actual "attack."  By the time
>I get there, the females' wings are completely inflated and dried, and a
>captive partner.
>
>Two days ago, things got bad...there was a dearth of  female Longwings,
>so the frustrated and frenzied males were patrolling and confiscating
>near-eclosing Queen butterflies (!)  They staked out their "brides" and
>gripped their chyrsalides for all they were worth...  I didn't know what
>to expect when I came in the next morning.
>
>What I found the next morning were a lot of newly eclosed Queens and one
>"successful?" Zebra Longwing who had managed to grasp the abdomen
>(albeit, in the "wrong place..") of a newly emerged Queen male, who was
>desperately trying to extricate himself AND pump up his underinflated
>wings at the same time.  The Zebra Longwing was oblivious to its "missing
>the mark," much less to having hooked up with the wrong species (!)  I
>tried to intervene for the sake of the male Queen, but the tenacity of
>the Zebra L. was more than a match for me.  I gave up and left them to
>their deluded depravity.
>
>If that wasn't bad enough, today I walked into the garden and found THREE
>male Zebras hooked up to ONE newly emerged female Zebra...talk about
>"group sex."   And to  top things off, I also discovered a male Zebra
>"necrophiliac" that had broken through the chrysalis of an unemerged
>female, and was "going to town" with her corpse...
>
>Are there "support groups" for individuals in my current line of work?!
>Someone suggested I needed to start one....  Instead, I'm reading a book
>about the racehorse, Seabiscuit, which takes my mind temporarily off the
>"winged beasts" (i.e. no sexual content).
>
>I shudder to think:  What next?!  Perhaps a black shroud over the tent
>with a sign stating:  Absolutely NO ONE under 17 admitted without a
>parent or guardian!
>
>M.B. Prondzinski
>The Depraved USA
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Richard A. Worth
Oregon Department of Agriculture
Plant Division
rworth at oda.state.or.us
(503) 986-6461

 
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