Species ID -2-

[MexicoDoug at aol.com]

you're welcome, howard,.definitelly not an indicator of age per se, probably 
not per se an indicator of sex, though the males are brighter red and the 
females more an earthtone orange brown and darker, so males may have the 
spots more pronounced, need an expert on the bug to confirm.  butterflies do 
not change color though on second though a fresher one will have brighter 
colors if you look at it from that perspective, as the color scales damage 
and fall off giving them a drabber look in its life of a  month or two, for 
example.  on top of that heliconians are amoung the most variable family of 
butterflies in coloration on the face of the earth, besides in this case the 
sexual dimorphism-coloration- so add that all up and you get probably a     
fresh male from the butterfly house not subjected to a  tough life, who 
probably had a  good share of red to start with.  butterfy houses love to 
experiment like dr. moreau -as in the dream island of genetic crosses horror 
flick-, for example, florida's butterfly world had a 'patented'  heliconian 
they call something like 'the piano' by cross breedting experimentation width 
dthese beautiful other heliconian family menbers to give artistic results, 
all is what i recall, so there may be more to that story and origin, though 
the point here is that color pattern of that family are variable. 
.best wishes. . ...
douglas dawn
monterrey, mexico.

.Standard Time, HMSDOC at aol.com escribe:



> Asunto:Species ID 
> Fecha:11/18/2002 2:26:26 PM Central Standard Time
> De:<A HREF="mailto:HMSDOC at aol.com">HMSDOC at aol.com</A>
> Para:<A HREF="mailto:LEPS-L at lists.yale.edu">LEPS-L at lists.yale.edu</A>
> Enviado por Internet 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for the rapid responses....the web search does indeed pull up other 
> photos of Dryas julia that looks exactly like what I have..thanks very 
> much.  I was just curious, though, only some of  the photos seem to have 
> the red marking on the underside of the wing like mine has.  Is this an 
> indicator of sex, age, something else or just random?
> 
> Howard 

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