Marisia - Maros Megyei Múzeum Évkönyve 35/2. (2015)
Zoology
The message beyond the forms and colours of the tropical butterflies — 23 out of the 25 species of butterflies which were studied (meaning 92%), show warning colors, either the butterflies are toxic or not. All the toxic butterflies present in the collection (meaning 11 species) present warning colors. (Cyclogram 2) — 11 out of the 23 species of diurnal butterflies (44%) are toxic butterflies and present warning colors, while 12 species out of 23 (52%) just immitate the dangerous species (process called aposematism). (Cyclogram 3) — 12 out of the 25 species of butterflies (44%) show camouflage colors when the butterfly rests and its wings are high and glued together (process called homochromy). (Cyclogram 4). Generally speaking, toxic butterflies don’t have camouflage colors, but there are some exceptions such as Historis oidus. — The majority of the butterflies show a slow flight due to the huge dimension and surface of their wings. All birdwings butterflies have a slow flight, with the exception of Trogonoptera brookiana, whose fore wings form a very acute angle. — The Surprise-Effect is present at all the nocturnal species, process that consists of the disclosure of the ocelli. The Surprise-Effect is missing at the diurnal species, with the exception of Caligo Memnon — “The Giant Owl Butterfly”. (Cyclogram 5) — The color of the scales depends on the pigment of the butterfly for the majority of the species, with the exceptions of Morpho butterflies (structural type), Trogonoptera brookiana and Papilio ulysses (both processes). (Cyclogram 6). The final results were stored in the table 1. Conclusions Around 52% of the species of diurnal butterflies which were studied present sexual dimorphism, the color of the males being more vivid (fact that allows them to find to find the females); 92% of the species of diurnal butterflies present vivid and warning colors, and just 44% of the total are toxic butterflies. All the toxic butterflies show warning colors. The process of mimicry is being present at almost half of them (48%), allowing them to imitate the toxic butterflies. All this characteristics (warning colors, toxicity, fast flight at some species, camouflage colors and surprise-effect at nocturnal species) allow the species of huge butterflies, like the ones from the collection, both to escape the attack of the insectivorous birds and to find their matching partner. All this characteristics mentioned above helped at the adaptation of the butterflies to the living environment, and also made some of the species evolve to great dimensions, which together with other perfected means of surveillance, made them the second specie of invertebrate animals (after beetles) in what population is concerned. Table 1: The checklist of studied species 125 Morpho aega Morph о anaxibia Morpho achilles amazonicus_________________ Atrophaneura semperi Sexual The ^ . ^ surprise- . Color Uimor- ~ . LamoU' , character „ , . Warning loxi- n hirect (at rn. . formation phism r-\ nage . of Bight , . . / Colors city ^ , nocturnal /r . (pigment/ (regarding J Colors . 4 (fast/ r ° I V species) * V structural) slow structural slow structural slow structural slow niornenr No. Species 1. 2. 3. 4.
