aguilita's Favorites

UNT Baxter-Slye Ecological Action Studio baseline observations for the Corinth Blue-green infrastructure Initiative. UNT interns Calvin & Nicolette with MS ENV SCI student Madison Rutherford are prepping plans to improve the Corinth Community Park with erosion control, butterfly garden enhancement, Eastern Crosstimbers sandy prairie rejuvenation, and retention pond aquatic plantings. We are excited to start this new project!

one of what's probably the most abundant butterfly in weedy openings of the disturbed forest about 1km west of Tepakán, elevation ~9m (~30 ft); this one had freshly emerged from its chrysalis attached to the bottom of a leaf of the genus Desmodium, right beside my hut

weedy area of grounds of Hacienda Chichen Resort beside Chichén Itzá Ruins; elevation ~39m (~128ft)

It's hard to resist believing that the female had just emerged from her chrysalis, ripely emitting powerful sexual pheromones, and a male came along and got her maybe even before her wings were dry. She must have been redolent of pheromones, for as I took the picture another male, sometimes two males, and once even a male of a different species -- some kind of yellow sulfur butterfly -- flitted around the pair, evidently wanting some of the action

Es difícil resistirse a creer que la hembra acababa de salir de su crisálida, emitiendo poderosas feromonas sexuales, y que apareció un macho y la atrapó, tal vez incluso antes de que sus alas estuvieran secas. Debía oler a feromonas, porque mientras tomaba la fotografía, otro macho, a veces dos machos, y una vez incluso un macho de una especie diferente (una especie de mariposa amarilla de azufre) revoloteaba alrededor de la pareja, evidentemente queriendo algo de la acción