Oh Butterfly ! Dragonfly !! - Dragon Butterfly !!

You have loved seeing Butterflies and have seen Dragonflies when it is about to rain – have you seen this flying insect – resembling both ? (if yes, please put 3 ! as your comment)

சினிமாக்களில் மிகைப்படுத்தப்பட்ட ஓர் உயிரினம் - வண்ணாத்திப்பூச்சி .. .. மிக அழகாக இருக்கும் - மண்ணில் பறந்து திரியும் வானவில் தான் பட்டாம் பூச்சி. வானில் தோன்றும் வானவில்லில் ஏழு நிறங்கள் மட்டுமே இருக்கும். ஆனால் பட்டாம் பூச்சிகள் பல வண்ணங்களில் பரவசப்படுத்தும். அதற்கேற்றார் போல் அதற்கு வண்ணத்துப்பூச்சி என்று மற்றொரு பெயரும் உண்டு.   மனதில் காதல் வந்தால், உங்கள் தேவதையை பார்த்தவுடன் சுற்றி சுற்றி வண்ணாத்தி பூச்சிகள் பறக்குமாம் !  உங்களுக்கு பறந்ததுண்டா அல்லது எவ்வளவு முறை அவ்வாறு பறந்துள்ளது ?!?

திக்குத் தெரியாத காட்டில்-உன்னைத் தேடித் தேடி இளைத்தேனே..  is one of the many songs of the great Tamil Poet Subrahmanya Barathiyar. ‘Thikku Theriyatha kattil’ (in a forest lost in directions) was also the name of a hit movie released in 1972 starring Muthuraman and Lakshmi … a song ‘பூப்பூவா பறந்து போகும் பட்டுப்பூச்சி அக்கா – நீ பளபளன்னு போட்டிருப்பது யாரு கொடுத்த சொக்கா’ – a child asking the butterfuly as to who gave it such a beautiful shirt ! – was a grand hit of yesteryears. 

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state. The term is closely associated with the work of mathematician and meteorologist Edward Norton Lorenz. He noted that the butterfly effect is derived from the metaphorical example of the details of a tornado (the exact time of formation, the exact path taken) being influenced by minor perturbations such as a distant butterfly flapping its wings several weeks earlier. Lorenz originally used a seagull causing a storm but was persuaded to make it more poetic with the use of butterfly and tornado by 1972. 

Insects (from Latin insectum) are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes and one pair of antennae.  Lepidoptera is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths.   Odonata is an order of flying insects that includes the dragonflies and damselflies. 

Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera.  Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight.   Butterfly fossils date to the Paleocene, about 56 million years ago. Butterflies have a four-stage life cycle, as like most insects they undergo complete metamorphosis. Winged adults lay eggs on the food plant on which their larvae, known as caterpillars, will feed.

 

Not as attractive is the one that we see generally when it is cloudy and about to rain – a  dragonfly,  an insect belonging to the order Odonata, having hindwing broader than front wing. Adult dragonflies are characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, sometimes with coloured patches and an elongated body. Dragonflies are agile fliers, while damselflies have a weaker, fluttery flight.  Have seen blue, green and black dragonflies – and red ones too.   Dragonflies are predators, both in their aquatic larval stage, when they are known as nymphs or naiads, and as adults. Several years of their lives are spent as nymphs living in fresh water; the adults may be on the wing for just a few days or weeks. 

This post is on another one sighted yesterday – was that ‘Butter dragonfly’ or ‘Dragon butterfly’ – not known to me. 

 

This dreamy insect looks like it’s swimming through air. It looks like a creation for Disney’s Fantasia that was bumped last-minute for those weird lady fish with the bedroom eyes. Just wait until you see this thing in motion. Found in South and Southeast Asia,   the dragontail butterfly comes in two forms.   The dragontail butterflies belong to the swallowtail butterfly family (Papilionidae), which contains hundreds of species found all over the world. 

Unlike the orchard swallowtail butterfly, which has no tail whatsoever, despite being a swallowtail, the dragontail butterfly has a luxurious one that, at 4cm long, can rival its wingspan. Its colouring is mostly black and white, but with a bright turquoise or light green band running roughly parallel to its abdomen. That glass-like transparent triangle on each forewing is known as hyaline – a transparent, colourless feature exemplified by the pellucid hawk moth, found in Queensland.

 

Not sure whether the one photographed here is anyone of these – I choose to call it ‘Dragon Butterfly’.   It was indeed a challenge, photographing this flying insect !

Interesting ! 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
27.10.2022